The Argentine captain, who equalled Miroslav Klose’s record with his first World Cup hat-trick last time out, had missed a spot-kick nine minutes in but took the record outright 30 minutes later and extended it in second-half stoppage-time at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas.
His first was a strike befitting the record and the player as Messi swivelled and passed to Thiago Almada near halfway, who in turn moved it wide to Facundo Medina, before the Atletico Madrid midfielder dummied the cutback for his skipper to fire in first time.
The talismanic forward then added a late second on the night and fifth of this summer's tournament to take his World Cup tally to 18 goals and overall total to 122 in 201 appearances for his nation.
Centre-halves ‘Cuti’ and Kevin lined up in defence on opposing sides for their 53rd cap and 34th cap respectively, with Marcos remaining an unused substitute, but our club captain was forced off on 58 minutes after going down and looking in discomfort from a challenge on Marcel Sabitzer just after the restart.
Argentina held a slender advantage as the contest neared it's conclusion and, shortly after Kevin's header almost found teammate Patrick Wimmer to equalise in a rare chance in the closing stages, the holders hit Austria on the counter-attack which ended with their number 10 converting at the second attempt to continue their perfect start to a title defence.
Cristian and Marcos round-off the groups against Jordan whilst Ralf Rangnick's side will be looking to bounce back against Algeria both on Sunday 28 June (3am BST).
Who makes your all-time Spurs World Cup XI?