KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lionel Messi used the front of his white-and-blue, sweat-soaked jersey to wipe the tears from his eyes, a flood of emotions cracking his usually calm, confident demeanor after he gave Argentina an early lead in its World Cup opener against Algeria.
Then he scored again. And again.
Suddenly, any questions about Messi’s hamstring injury, or whether he could help Argentina become the third men’s soccer team to win consecutive World Cups – even as his 39th birthday approaches next week — had been answered. With a brilliant hat trick in a 3-0 win over Les Fennecs late Tuesday night at Arrowhead Stadium, Messi moved into a tie with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the career scoring record at the World Cup.
“My tears after the first goal? I’ve had some tough days. It wasn’t related to football. And those feelings were because of that,” Messi said afterward, without elaborating. “I thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the delegation for helping me.”
Messi scored that emotional first goal in the opening minutes on a nifty feed from Rodrigo De Paul, who is also one of his teammates with reigning Major League Soccer champion Inter Miami CF. The second goal came via Messi’s opportunistic conversion of a rebound early in the second half, and the third on a crisp strike moments before he was subbed out to a standing ovation from a crowd of 69,045 whose support was tilted heavily toward Argentina, which won its third World Cup championship four years ago in Qatar after winning it all on home soil in 1978 and in Mexico in 1986.
“At a loss for words about Leo. What can I say?” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “He’s incredible.”
Messi’s incredible trio of goals came 20 years to the day he made his World Cup debut — he scored in that match against Serbia and Montenegro, too — and this hat trick made the pride of Rosario only the second player to score in five editions of the quadrennial men’s tournament.
Messi has 16 goals in his record six World Cup appearances overall, and it seems inevitable that Klose’s record will fall in the coming weeks (La Albicelestefaces Austria next Monday, then closes its Group J play against Jordan on June 27, with both of those matches at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas). The hat trick was the 61st of Messi’s career and his 11th while playing in his national team colors, thoug it was his first in the World Cup.
It also was the fifth straight World Cup game in which Messi has scored.
“It makes me very happy to have lived through everything that came my way. What I’m living through now is the cherry on top,” Messi said. “I’m very happy and grateful for this wonderful group. I enjoy it so much.”
Messi upstaged two of the game’s other brightest stars — Kylian Mbappé of France and Erling Haaland of Norway — who had big games of their own Tuesday. Mbappé scored twice in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal to move into a tie for fourth on the World Cup goals list with 14, while Haaland scored twice for Norway in its 4-1 victory over Iraq.
“Messi is a madman,” Haaland said in a post on Snapchat during Argentina’s game.
Messi had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury sustained while playing for Miami that slowed him leading up to the World Cup. Still, the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, which honors global soccer’s best player, had no problems in a tuneup last week with Iceland, scoring on a penalty kick while playing 20 minutes in a sharp performance.
“This is my sixth World Cup, and I still feel like I’m in good shape,” Messi said. “Fortunately, I’m doing well, and today we managed to win a tough match. It’s important to start the tournament with a victory in the first game, as that’s never easy in a World Cup.”
Messi’s appearance against Algeria was the 200th of his international career, which began in 2005 at age of 18. The only players with more are Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who made his 229th appearance Wednesday afternoon, and Bader al-Mutawa, who played in 202 matches for Kuwait from 2003-22.
Messi and Ronaldo are the only men to have scored in five World Cups.
“Class is permanent,” Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “He’s fortunate to have the privilege that the entire Argentina team works for him and supports him, and for a number of years now — decades — he’s done incredible things.”
Argentina is among four national teams making their base camps in Metro Kansas City. And much as it has the rest of the world, Messi-mania has swept through the area ever since La Albiceleste’s arrival in the American Heartland two weeks ago.
On match day, thousands of fans wearing his No. 10 jersey trekked into the home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs while singing odes to their hero. Meanwhile, during a watch party some eight miles away at the Power & Light District downtown, a goat accompanied by NFL quarterback-turned Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston came on stage wearing an Argentina jersey.
The humorous moment seemed to have foreshadowed a big night for Messi when he scored an hour later, and the argument that he’s soccer’s GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) is becoming no argument at all with every match he plays.
“It’s an advantage to have Leo because of how he handles the group and pushes it forward, because of who he is,” De Paul said. “He doesn’t care about individual records. He prioritizes the group, and for us it’s incredible.”