Argentina’s Lionel Messi is the World Cup’s joint top scorer in history after scoring a hat-trick, helping defending champions Argentina beat Algeria in their opening World Cup game, Yankee Scores reports.
In his 200th appearance for Appearance, Messi shone like a million stars and scored his first treble at the World Cup.
The eight-time Ballon d’or winner tied the record of Miroslav Klose, with 16 World Cup goals, which is now the highest number of goals in the World Cup.
The Argentina national team, which has previously lifted the FIFA World Cup trophy thrice, needed some effort to clinch the victory over Algeria as they aim to become only the third nation to defend the World Cup.
It was also the first time that Argentina secured a victory as defending champions in the opening game since they were defeated in 1982 and 1990, according to BBC Sport.
Heroic Messi
A spectacular performance by Messi contributed to their victory, as he provided them with an amazing start in the 17th minute of play.
The 38-year-old genius received the ball from fellow teammate Rodrigo De Paul and curved it over Luca Zidane, the son of France legend Zinedine Zidane, marking Messi’s 27th appearance in the World Cup.
Messi netted the goal after 12 minutes of the goal that was initially cancelled as Algeria also had a goal ruled out in the game that got off to an exciting start.
On a night Messi became the first player to feature in six World Cup tournaments, he almost paid dearly after challenging Algeria’s player Aissa Mandi recklessly in the middle of the first half.
Leo Messi: “I can’t ask for anything more, God gave me too much, now everything is just to enjoy.
“I’m just happy to being considered as one of the best in football history, I’m just grateful to be considered among many great players…” pic.twitter.com/B6flzm2fTX
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) June 17, 2026
Argentina scored their second goal when Messi pounced on a mistake from Zidane in the 60th minute, while he netted his first World Cup hat-trick in the 76th minute after receiving the ball from Gonzalez.
Having achieved victory in their Group J opener, Argentina will next face Austria and Jordan.
