Lionel Messi has created a stir in his very first match of FIFA World Cup 2026. Messi scored a hat-trick against Algeria to give Argentina a resounding 3-0 victory. With this, Messi has broken the big record of Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi has become the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup. He achieved this feat at the age of 38 years 357 days. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick at the age of 33 years and 122 days in the group-stage match against Spain in the 2018 World Cup.
Second player to score a goal in 5 World Cups
In this match played in Kansas City on Wednesday (June 17), Messi opened Argentina’s account by scoring a goal in the 17th minute. With this, he became the second player to score goals in a record 5 World Cups. Messi equaled Ronaldo in this matter.
Messi, playing his sixth World Cup, took advantage of the gap in Algeria’s defense and easily dodged his goalkeeper Luca Zidane and put the ball into the goal post, equaling Ronaldo’s record. Ronaldo achieved this feat in 2022. Just moments before this, a goal by Messi was invalidated due to offside.
Also read: Suryavanshi stuck before debut, what is ICC’s rule on the controversy of Sri Lanka-A match?
Messi became number-1 in this matter
Messi scored on a rebound in the 60th minute. After this, he completed his hat-trick with a left foot shot from the edge of the box in the 76th minute. With this, he has jointly reached the top in terms of scoring the most goals in the history of the FIFA World Cup. He equaled Germany’s Miroslav Klose. Miroslav scored 16 goals in the World Cup. Messi’s name has also become equally popular.
Also read: India A figures are indicating that Vaibhav will have to correct these shortcomings before debut.
Most goals in FIFA World Cup
- Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 16 goals
- Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 16 goals
- Ronaldo (Brazil) – 15 goals
- Gerd Muller (West Germany) – 14 goals
- Kylian Mbappé (France) – 14 goals
Comments are closed.