Messi Sets Record with Hat-Trick in World Cup Victory

Lionel Messi rewrote another line in football’s history book on a humid night in Kansas City, and he did it in the way he knows best: by taking over a World Cup game on his own.

The 38-year-old Argentina captain, already carrying the weight of a defending champion and a global icon, stepped into the 2026 World Cup with Algeria in front of him and a sold-out stadium around him. He walked off having scored all three goals in a 3-0 win and having taken a record from the only man who truly shares his stage.

Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick. That mark now belongs to Messi.

Messi pushes past Ronaldo

At 38 years and 357 days, Messi’s treble against Algeria moved him beyond Ronaldo’s benchmark from 2018, when the Portuguese star struck three times against Spain at 33 years and 130 days. The gap between those numbers tells its own story: longevity at the very top, stretched out across almost two decades of World Cup football.

Here, the age was not a footnote. It was the headline. Messi didn’t drift on the fringes of the game, picking moments. He drove it.

Every time Argentina surged forward, the ball seemed to find his left foot. Every time Algeria thought they had survived the storm, it built again. The crowd in Kansas City knew what they were watching. So did the players on the pitch.

The hat-trick did more than rewrite a record. It set the tone for Argentina’s title defence.

Argentina take early control of Group J

Placed in Group J with Austria, Jordan, and Algeria, Argentina entered the tournament as the team everyone wants to beat. One match in, they sit exactly where they expect to be: on top.

Three goals, three points, and an early statement.

Algeria never truly found a way to disrupt Argentina’s rhythm or Messi’s space. With the captain dragging defenders out of position and finishing ruthlessly, the champions turned what could have been a tense opener into a controlled, almost clinical, display.

The schedule now tightens. Argentina head to Dallas Stadium next, where they will face Austria on Monday and then Jordan five days later. Those two games will shape the group, but they will also test how much energy this veteran core, led by a 38-year-old genius, can keep summoning every few days.

For now, they travel as leaders, with a hat-trick in their pocket and the rest of Group J already looking up at them.

Ronaldo’s turn in Miami

While Messi was bending Kansas City to his will, Cristiano Ronaldo was preparing for his own World Cup entrance.

Portugal open their campaign on Wednesday against the Democratic Republic of Congo at Miami Stadium. After that comes Uzbekistan on Tuesday, then Colombia on June 27, all in the same venue, all with the same demand: get out of the group.

The target for both Ronaldo and Portugal is simple and unforgiving. Finish in the top two, or go home. The same, of course, applies to Messi and Argentina, even if their ambitions stretch far beyond merely surviving the group.

The symmetry remains striking. Two of the greatest players in the sport’s history, both deep into their late 30s, both still central to their national teams’ hopes, both walking into another World Cup with the expectation of delivering when it matters most.

Messi has already landed his opening blow.

Champions under the spotlight

Argentina arrive in this tournament as the hunted. The memory of 2022 still lingers: the epic final, the duel with Kylian Mbappé, the penalty shootout that finally delivered Messi the trophy he had chased for so long.

That win in Qatar turned Argentina from dreamers into defending champions. It also painted a target on their backs.

Every opponent now measures itself against the world champions. Every game against Argentina becomes a chance to make history. That is the reality Messi and his teammates must live with for as long as they stay in this World Cup.

On the evidence of Kansas City, they are not shrinking from it.

Messi’s hat-trick did more than edge Ronaldo in a record column. It announced that, at nearly 39, he still has the power to bend a World Cup night to his will. The question now is not whether he can still do it.

It’s how long he can keep doing it, with the whole world chasing him.