Messi scores hat-trick, equals World Cup goals record in Argentina win

Lionel Messi turned Argentina’s World Cup opener into a milestone night, scoring three times in a 3-0 win over Algeria in Kansas City. His third goal drew him level with Miroslav Klose on 16 men’s World Cup goals and pushed him into another layer of tournament history as the first man to take part in six editions.

The finish that sealed the record was pure Messi: a quick exchange with Nico González, a touch outside the penalty area and a left-footed drive that beat the keeper at the post. It was his first hat-trick in a World Cup, a striking addition to a career already defined by accumulation, endurance and decisive moments on the sport’s biggest stage.

The timing sharpened the significance. Messi was a week away from his 39th birthday, yet he was still setting benchmarks in the competition that has shaped the global game’s mythology for nearly a century. Argentina began the defense of its title with a comfortable result, but the scoreline only told part of the story. The broader meaning sat with Messi himself, who entered the tournament already among the World Cup’s great scorers and left the night sharing the top spot with Klose, whose 16-goal haul was built across four tournaments from 2002 to 2014.

That is why this record matters beyond the statistics. Klose’s mark long served as a standard for longevity at the highest level, a number that seemed to require both elite finishing and repeated deep runs over many years. Messi has now matched it while also becoming the first player to appear in six men’s World Cups, a distinction that underlines how his legacy is no longer just about brilliance in a single tournament or a single era, but about sustained relevance across changing generations.

For Argentina, the result was a powerful start to the campaign. For Messi, it was another entry in a record book that keeps expanding at the moment the World Cup’s history is being rewritten around him.