Lionel Messi Shines with Hat Trick in Argentina's World Cup Opener
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lionel Messi wiped his eyes with the front of his white-and-blue shirt, sweat and tears mixing on the fabric. The usually unflappable captain stood there, exposed for a moment, overwhelmed after giving Argentina an early lead in its World Cup opener against Algeria.
Then he did what he has done for two decades.
He scored again. And again.
By the end of Argentina’s 3–0 win over Les Fennecs, any lingering doubts about his hamstring, his age, or his ability to drag a nation toward back-to-back World Cups had been blown away. With a ruthless hat trick in front of 69,045 fans, Messi pulled level with Miroslav Klose for the all-time men’s World Cup scoring record.
He is 39 next week. He is still rewriting the sport.
Tears, then a torrent
The first goal came early, the move as familiar as it was devastating. Rodrigo De Paul, his Inter Miami teammate and long-time on-field lieutenant, slipped him a clever ball. Messi didn’t waste it. One touch, one finish, one roar.
His reaction, though, was anything but routine.
“My tears after the first goal? I’ve had some tough days. It wasn’t related to football. And those feelings were because of that,” he said afterward, stopping short of explaining more. “I thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the delegation for helping me.”
The pressure Argentina had built from the opening whistle never really eased. Algeria tried to press, tried to bite into tackles, tried to rattle the champions. Messi just kept finding space.
Early in the second half, he pounced on a loose ball after a rebound, turning a half-chance into his second of the night. Later, with the game long since tilted his way, he took aim from the edge of the box and drilled in a third — a crisp, clinical strike — before walking off to a standing ovation, the entire stadium rising for a player they might never see on this stage again.
“At a loss for words about Leo. What can I say?” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni admitted. “He’s incredible.”
Twenty years on, still the main act
The symmetry of the night was impossible to ignore. Exactly 20 years earlier, Messi had made his World Cup debut against Serbia and Montenegro. He scored that day too. Now, two decades on, he has become only the second man to score in five editions of the tournament.
This latest treble — the 61st hat trick of his career, his 11th for Argentina and his first at a World Cup — pushed him to 16 goals across a record six appearances at the finals. Klose’s mark is in sight, and on this evidence, it will not stand for long.
It was also the fifth consecutive World Cup match in which Messi has found the net. The numbers keep stacking up, but for him, this phase feels like something else.
“It makes me very happy to have lived through everything that came my way. What I’m living though now is the cherry on top,” he said. “I’m very happy and grateful for this wonderful group. I enjoy it so much.”
On a night when Kylian Mbappé hit two for France in a 3–1 win over Senegal to move into a tie for fourth on the World Cup scoring list with 14, and Erling Haaland struck twice in Norway’s 4–1 victory over Iraq, Messi still stole the show.
“Messi is a madman,” Haaland posted on Snapchat during Argentina’s game. Most watching in Kansas City would have agreed.
Injury doubts brushed aside
The build-up to this World Cup had carried a hint of anxiety for Argentina. Messi arrived from Inter Miami nursing a minor hamstring issue, his minutes managed, his every step monitored. Then came a sharp, 20-minute tuneup against Iceland last week, capped by a coolly taken penalty. The worry began to fade.
“This is my sixth World Cup, and I still feel like I’m in good shape,” Messi said. “Fortunately, I’m doing well, and today we managed to win a tough match. It’s important to start the tournament with a victory in the first game, as that’s never easy in a World Cup.”
His appearance against Algeria was his 200th for Argentina, a journey that began in 2005 when he was 18. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set for his 229th cap with Portugal on Wednesday, and Kuwait’s Bader al-Mutawa, who played 202 times, have more.
Messi and Ronaldo now share another line in the record books: the only men to score in five World Cups.
“Class is permanent,” Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “He’s fortunate to have the privilege that the entire Argentina team works for him, and supports him, and for a number of years now — decades — he’s done incredible things.”
Heartland turns sky blue
Kansas City has become an unlikely epicenter of Argentina’s title defense. La Albiceleste are one of four teams based in the metro area, and since their arrival about two weeks ago, Messi-mania has taken hold.
On match day, the highways leading to the home of the NFL’s Chiefs were dotted with sky blue and white. Thousands of fans in No. 10 shirts marched toward the stadium, singing his name, banging drums, turning a slice of Missouri into a corner of Buenos Aires.
Downtown, at the Power & Light District, a watch party drew its own spectacle: a goat led on stage by former NFL quarterback-turned-Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston, wearing an Argentina jersey. The joke was obvious. The timing, uncanny. About an hour later, Messi scored.
With every match, the GOAT debate feels less like a debate and more like a formality.
“It’s an advantage to have Leo because of how he handles the group and pushes it forward. Because of who he is,” De Paul said. “He doesn’t care about individual records. He prioritizes the group, and for us it’s incredible.”
The World Cup has a habit of ushering out legends quietly, with late exits and hollow goodbyes. Messi seems intent on something very different — one more charge, one more record, one more month of nights like this, dragging Argentina toward history while the clock keeps ticking on a career that refuses to slow.
