Miroslav Klose reveals phone call with Lionel Messi
Miroslav Klose has revealed that he has spoken to Lionel Messi since the Argentina captain overtook the Germany legend as the all-time top scorer at the FIFA World Cup, with the promise of a special gift.
Nuremberg coach Klose was speaking to the club’s inhouse media after they returned for pre-season and explained that he’d recently had a chat with the man who usurped his 16 goals.
“Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was my teammate at Lazio and we’re still regularly in touch. He arranged a call between Messi and me after he equalled my World Cup scoring record. It was really moving,” said Germany’s record goalscorer.
“Messi and I have obviously faced each other a few times on the pitch, which was always great and respectful. But the call was the first time we’ve had a bit of a longer chat away from the pitch. He told me he’d send me a signed shirt,” the 48-year-old added.
Klose had previously congratulated Messi after he took the record outright with his 17th World Cup goal, saying, “For me, Lionel Messi is the best player of all time. Congratulations, champion!”.
He continued: “It’s absolutely fine. The record was going to be broken at some point anyway, so I’m happy for Messi to do it. I am and always have been a big fan of Messi.”
Messi equalled the record with a hat-trick against Algeria in his opening game of 2026’s edition before going beyond that with a brace against Austria. The 39-year-old has now reached 21 goals after the round of 16 win over Egypt.
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France’s Kylian Mbappé has also gone past Klose on 19 goals, while England’s Harry Kane could still make up ground on 14, level with Bayern Munich and Germany great Gerd Müller.
