Lionel Messi's Hat Trick Leads Argentina to Victory Over Algeria

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lionel Messi stood alone for a moment inside the roar, jersey pressed to his face, trying to wipe away the tears as quickly as he wipes away defenders.

Then he went back to work.

By the time he walked off to a standing ovation from 69,045 people in Kansas City, Argentina’s captain had delivered a ruthless hat trick in a 3–0 win over Algeria, silenced any lingering doubts about his hamstring, and dragged himself level with Miroslav Klose at the very top of the men’s World Cup scoring charts.

On the eve of his 39th birthday.

Tears, then a torrent

The emotion came early. Messi’s first goal, in the opening minutes, felt like a dam breaking.

A clever pass from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul sliced through Algeria’s back line. Messi ghosted into space, met the feed and finished, then crumpled under the weight of something far heavier than a group-stage opener. He buried his face in the front of his white-and-blue shirt, shoulders shaking.

“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 later, choosing not to elaborate. “I thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the delegation for helping me.”

The game, though, gave him no time to linger. Once the whistle blew again, the old rhythm returned.

A record chase in real time

Messi’s second arrived early in the second half, a poacher’s finish from an opportunistic rebound. Algeria failed to clear, the ball dropped loose, and the man who has scored every kind of goal simply added another variant to the collection.

His third was pure Messi. A crisp, clean strike, hit with that familiar certainty, moments before he left the field to thunderous applause, Argentina fans on their feet in a stadium usually painted Chiefs red.

Three goals. Three reminders. One more entry into World Cup history.

The hat trick — the 61st of his career, his 11th for Argentina and his first on this stage — pulled him level with Klose for the all-time men’s World Cup scoring record. Messi now has 16 goals across a record six World Cup appearances, and with Argentina only just beginning their title defense, the German’s mark feels like a target rather than a ceiling.

“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,” Messi said. “I’m very happy and grateful for this wonderful group. I enjoy it so much.”

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni hardly tried to dress it up.

“At a loss for words about Leo. What can I say?” he admitted. “He’s incredible.”

Twenty years on, still the heartbeat

This latest chapter landed exactly 20 years to the day since Messi’s World Cup debut, when a skinny teenager from Rosario stepped onto the pitch against Serbia and Montenegro and scored in his first tournament appearance.

Two decades later, he has become only the second player to score in five editions of the men’s World Cup. He has now found the net in five straight World Cup games, still bending tournaments to his will.

“This is my sixth World Cup, and I still feel like I’m in good shape,” he 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 presence alone still reshapes the sport’s biggest nights. On Tuesday, while Messi dismantled Algeria, Kylian Mbappé struck twice in France’s 3–1 win over Senegal to move into a tie for fourth on the all-time World Cup list with 14 goals. Erling Haaland scored twice in Norway’s 4–1 victory over Iraq.

Both are billed as heirs. Both watched the king remind everyone he still rules.

“Messi is a madman,” Haaland posted on Snapchat as Argentina rolled.

Injury doubts swept away

Only days earlier, the conversation around Messi sounded different. A minor hamstring issue at Inter Miami had slowed his build-up, raised questions about minutes and sharpness.

He answered them with the same cold clarity he shows in front of goal.

In a tuneup against Iceland last week, he played 20 sharp minutes and scored from the penalty spot. Against Algeria, he never looked like a player protecting a muscle. He looked like a player chasing one more World Cup, one more layer of immortality.

His appearance on Tuesday marked his 200th cap for Argentina, a journey that began in 2005 when he was 18. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, set for his 229th appearance with Portugal on Wednesday, and Kuwait legend Bader al-Mutawa, who finished on 202, have more.

Messi and Ronaldo now stand alone as the only men to score in five World Cups, their rivalry stretching across eras, continents and record books.

“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.”

A city swept up in Messi-mania

Kansas City has seen big events before, but nothing quite like this. Argentina is one of four national teams using the metro area as a base camp, and ever since La Albiceleste landed in the Midwest two weeks ago, Messi-mania has rolled through the region like a summer storm.

On match day, the roads to the Chiefs’ stadium turned sky blue. Thousands of fans in No. 10 shirts poured in, drums beating, songs bouncing around the parking lots long before kickoff. The NFL’s home of Patrick Mahomes briefly became a shrine to another No. 10.

Downtown, at a watch party in the Power & Light District, the spectacle took a surreal twist: a goat, led on stage by former NFL quarterback turned Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston, wore an Argentina jersey. A joke, a meme made real, and a not-so-subtle nod to the acronym that has followed Messi for years.

An hour later, when he scored, the symbolism felt almost too on the nose. With every goal, the argument over the sport’s GOAT drifts further from debate and closer to consensus.

“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 records, though, keep falling at his feet anyway. And with Argentina chasing back-to-back World Cups and Messi playing like this, the real question now is not whether he will pass Klose — but how far beyond the record he plans to go.