Messi equals a football world record

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi managed to score a magnificent hat-trick against Algeria in the opening match of Group 'J' of the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament held at the Kansas City Stadium in America. In this match, held yesterday (June 16), Argentina secured a brilliant 3-0 victory, and with these three goals, Messi was able to equal the record of 16 goals set by Germany's Miroslav Klose as the highest goal scorer in World Cup history.

This also marks Messi's first hat-trick in the history of the World Cup tournaments.

In this decisive match, Messi brought Argentina into the lead by scoring his first goal in the 17th minute, and then successfully scored goals in the 60th and 76th minutes, completing his hat-trick and equaling the world record. The Argentine team received strong support from players like Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez, who displayed outstanding performances throughout the match. However, a controversial challenge by Messi against Algeria's Aïssa Mandi during the match drew criticism and the attention of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology.

This also marks Messi's 200th international match played for the Argentine national team. The 38-year-old superstar, who is soon to celebrate his 39th birthday, has garnered widespread praise for his performance on this field, which is considered his final World Cup tournament, as he transcends age limits. With these goals, he became the second player in the world to score in six different World Cup tournaments, equaling the unique record previously held by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lionel Messi has currently played a total of 27 matches across 6 World Cup tournaments, scoring 1 goal in 2006, no goals in 2010, 4 goals in 2014, 1 goal in 2018, and 7 goals in 2022, and has scored 3 goals so far in the current 2026 tournament. In the updated list of all-time World Cup top scorers, Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi lead with 16 goals each, while Brazil's Ronaldo has 15 goals and Germany's Gerd Müller has 14 goals. France's Kylian Mbappé is behind on this list with between 12 and 14 goals, but he is also at a level where he can challenge these records in the future. In addition, Messi holds several other unique records, such as playing the most World Cup matches, spending the most minutes on the field, and being the only player to score in every round of the 2022 tournament.