Sixteen goals. Two World Cups apart. One number that now belongs to both Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi.
Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 17, 2026, in their Group J opener at the World Cup. Messi scored all three goals himself, in the 17th, 60th, and 76th minutes, completing his first ever World Cup hat trick and pulling level with Klose’s long-standing record of 16 World Cup goals.
Final score 3-0 to Argentina. Messi opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a curling effort from 24 yards, doubled it in the 60th minute by reacting fastest to a rebound, and completed his hat trick in the 76th minute with a finish around a diving Luca Zidane. Argentina finished with 1.26 expected goals to Algeria’s 0.32, and Algeria managed just a single shot on target the entire match.
Argentina started with intent, though the breakthrough nearly arrived even earlier than it did.
Messi thought he had scored in the 5th minute, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after a composed finish into the bottom corner. Four minutes later, Algeria had a goal of their own chalked off by VAR after Farès Chaibi finished past Emiliano Martinez.
Here’s the thing both disallowed goals just delayed what was already coming.
Messi linked up with Rodrigo De Paul in the 17th minute and fired a 20-yard effort into the roof of the net, finally giving Argentina the lead the early pressure deserved. Algeria’s Chaibi wasted a good chance to equalize before the break, and Thiago Almada fired over for Argentina, but the half ended 1-0.
Make no mistake, the second half belonged entirely to one man.
Lautaro Martinez and Alexis Mac Allister both tested Zidane on the hour mark, and when the Algeria goalkeeper failed to smother Mac Allister’s shot from distance, Messi reacted quickest to side-foot the rebound into the bottom corner. At 38 years old, he had just become the oldest player to score a brace in a World Cup match.
Mac Allister’s defense-splitting pass sent Messi clear again in the 66th minute, but Zidane produced a smart save, and the captain’s penalty appeals after a tumble in the box went unrewarded. It barely mattered.
Messi completed the formality in the 76th minute, dribbling through midfield before laying the ball to substitute Nico Gonzalez and receiving it back in space, curling a left-footed finish around Zidane and into the net. The Arrowhead Stadium crowd rose to its feet minutes later as he was substituted off, a standing ovation for a man who had just rewritten a piece of tournament history in under eighty minutes.
Riyad Mahrez, restored from the bench too late to make a difference, saw a late free kick blocked as Algeria searched in vain for any kind of response.
Messi now sits level with Klose, who needed four tournaments to reach 16. Messi has done it in six, and he still has two group matches left to stand alone.