Lionel Messi's Hat Trick Leads Argentina Past Algeria in World Cup Match
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The World Cup holders walked into Arrowhead Stadium with a target on their backs. They walked out with a statement — and Lionel Messi standing alongside World Cup history.
At 38, in his sixth World Cup, Messi ripped apart Algeria with a ruthless hat trick in a 3–0 win on Sunday, matching Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup scoring record of 16 goals and launching Argentina’s title defense with the kind of authority that was missing four years ago.
No stumbles this time. No Saudi Arabia-style shock. Just a champion led by a No. 10 who refuses to fade.
A record in sight, a warning delivered
The tone changed in the 17th minute. Until then, Algeria had held their shape, kept the crowd restless, and tried to drag Argentina into a scrap. Then Messi found his rhythm.
Dropping deep, he linked with Rodrigo De Paul, drifted into space, and suddenly the pitch opened in front of him. One touch to set, one swing of that left foot from outside the box, and the ball screamed into the top corner. Luca Zidane, son of Zinedine Zidane, could only watch it fly past.
Arrowhead erupted. Argentina exhaled.
From there, the champions hunted a second. Thiago Almada should have had it before the break, arriving in the box only to pull his effort off target. Lautaro Martínez forced Zidane into a sharp save, the Algerian goalkeeper standing tall to keep the game alive and give his side a sliver of hope at halftime.
But hope never lasts long when Messi smells a record.
The pressure finally breaks Algeria
Argentina tightened their grip after the interval. The passes snapped sharper, the runs cut deeper. Algeria sank closer to their own penalty area and began to live on borrowed time.
The second goal came just after the hour, a product of sustained pressure. Alexis Mac Allister drove into the box and forced Zidane into another strong save, but this time the rebound fell to the worst possible man from an Algerian perspective. Messi reacted first, pouncing on the loose ball and guiding it home.
Goal No. 16. Level with Klose. A record that had stood alone now shared by the Argentine captain who refuses to be defined by age or era.
Argentina smelled blood. Moments later, Messi burst through again, one-on-one with Zidane, only for the goalkeeper to win the duel and deny the hat trick. Messi was back on his feet in an instant, appealing for a penalty after contact in the box, but the referee waved play on. No whistle, no drama. Just another chance gone — for now.
Algeria, by then, were hanging on. Every clearance felt temporary, every attack a brief interruption to the inevitable.
The hat trick, the ovation, the message
The inevitable arrived in the 76th minute.
Nicolás González slipped a clever pass into Messi’s path, threading the ball between tired Algerian legs. Messi didn’t blast this one. He passed it into the corner, low and precise, as if he were in training rather than on the World Cup stage with a record on the line.
Hat trick complete. World Cup goals tally at 16. One of the sport’s most significant records now shared — and within touching distance of being broken outright.
Argentina coasted from there, the job done, the points secured. The defending champions had their ideal opening: three goals, a clean sheet, and their captain already at full throttle.
Late on, Messi’s number went up. As he walked off, Arrowhead rose to its feet. A standing ovation rolled around the stadium, a salute to a player who has spent two decades turning big stages into his personal canvas.
This felt like more than a routine group-stage win. It felt like a warning shot.
With Group J fixtures against Austria and Jordan still to come, Messi will have at least two more chances to move past Klose and take the World Cup scoring record for himself. The title defense has only just begun, but the story is already tilting toward one question: how far can Argentina go with a record-chasing Messi still dictating everything?
