Lionel Messi continued rewriting the World Cup record books on Tuesday night, scoring three times to power Argentina past Algeria 3-0 and pull level with Miroslav Klose's all-time tournament scoring mark of 16 goals.
The performance was Messi's 11th career hat trick for the national team, but his first ever at a World Cup. At 38, he became the oldest man to score a hat trick at the tournament. He was substituted late in the second half to a standing ovation from the Argentina-heavy crowd at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
The night carried extra weight before kickoff. Messi's appearance marked his 200th cap for Argentina and made him the first man to feature in six World Cups, surpassing the previous record of five shared by Cristiano Ronaldo, Antonio Carbajal, Andrés Guardado, Rafael Márquez, and Lothar Matthäus.
Messi opened the scoring with a left-footed finish from the edge of the box, then added two more in the second half to complete the hat trick and draw level with Klose. He was visibly emotional after the opener, though he later explained the tears stemmed from something far removed from the game itself. "Why did I cry? It was something completely unrelated to football," he said afterward, thanking his teammates and the rest of the delegation for helping him through a difficult stretch.
The timing added another layer to the story: the match fell exactly 20 years after Messi's World Cup debut, a 2006 group game against Serbia and Montenegro in which he also scored, making him just the second player to find the net in five separate World Cups. The win also pushed Messi level with Klose for the most World Cup victories by any player, at 17 apiece.
Questions about his fitness had lingered after he was withdrawn early from an MLS match with Inter Miami in May due to muscle fatigue, but Messi brushed those concerns aside afterward. "What I'm living through now is the cherry on top," he said. "I'm very happy and grateful for this wonderful group, I enjoy it so much."
