Lionel Messi made history against Algeria after helping Argentina secure a 3-0 victory in a Group J match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup played in the early hours of Wednesday, June 17.
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Match Overview
The match, which kicked off at 9:00 p.m. at Arrowhead Stadium in the United States, featured reigning World Cup champions Argentina and Algeria from the African continent.
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Messi’s Hat-Trick
In just the 17th minute, Lionel Messi opened the scoring from a pass provided by Rodrigo De Paul. He scored his second goal in the 60th minute and added a third in the 76th minute after receiving a pass from Nico González.
After scoring these three goals in a single match, Messi, aged 38 years and 357 days, immediately became the player with the highest number of goals in World Cup history, as he now has 16 goals, equal to Germany’s Miroslav Klose.
He also became the oldest player ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match, breaking the record previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo, who set it in 2018.
Records Broken
Furthermore, Messi matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of being a player who has scored in five different World Cup tournaments.
In his 200th appearance for the Argentina national team, this was the first time Messi scored a hat-trick in a World Cup, while he remains the player who previously made history by scoring for Argentina in a World Cup at the youngest age.
Other Group Matches
In another match played earlier in Group I, Norway, helped by Erling Haaland who scored twice, defeated Iraq 4-1.
