Miroslav Klose was among the first to congratulate Lionel Messi for snatching the World Cup goals record from the former Germany striker.
Klose's record of 16 goals stood since 2014 but Argentina icon Messi first tied it with a hat-trick against Algeria last week and then improved it to 18 with a brace against Austria on Monday.
"Lionel Messi is the best footballer of all time for me! Congratulations, champion!" Klose told the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Klose, who is now coach at second division Nuremberg, said he had expected before the tournament that his record would fall, and that he was happy for "genius Messi."
"That is perfectly alright, the record would be broken at some stage anyway, and I’d be happy for Messi to be the one to do it. I’m a huge fan of Messi – I always have been."
Klose scored his 16 goals across four World Cups while Messi is playing in his sixth tournament.
Messi scored his first goal on his debut in 2006 and only failed to find the net at the 2010 edition. He has now scored in six World Cup matches in a row in 2022 and this edition where he has netted all five Argentina goals and is tournament top scorer.
Messi could however be under threat from France captain Kylian Mbappe who takes a tally of 14 into his next match later Monday against Iraq.
