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Jun 17, 2026
Analyzed by Llama- 4 Scout 17B 16E Instruct

Messi Hat-Trick Powers Argentina to World Cup Win Over Algeria

AI Summary
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 in their World Cup opener, marking his record sixth World Cup appearance and becoming the joint highest scorer at World Cups.

The Star Performance: Messi's Historic Night

Lionel Messi marked his record sixth World Cup appearance with a stunning hat-trick as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 to open the defence of their global crown. The former forward thought he had opened the scoring in the eighth minute, but the offside flag was raised.

The Turning Point: Messi's Breakthrough Goal

A trademark, mazy run was capped by a drive on the edge of the box from that famed left foot. The power was too much for Algeria keeper Luca Zidane, son of World Cup winner with France, Zinidine.

The Statistics: Messi's World Cup Goals

  • Messi doubled his tally on the hour mark with a simple tap in from a rebound off the keeper following a drive from Alexis Mac Allister.
  • The moment that even a player as decorated as Messi came in the 76th minute when he drilled low past the keeper from just outside the box.
  • The strike took Messi level with former Germany striker Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals.

The Impact: Argentina's Strong Start

Messi saw to it that there was no opening game upset to be had at this edition, having lost their opening game at Qatar 2022 to Saudi Arabia. Algeria – the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations winners – offered little, but were themselves denied an early goal when Fares Chaibi’s ninth-minute strike was ruled out for offside.

The Future: Argentina's World Cup Defence

His substitution came just three minutes later to a standard ovation, even the old maestro seemed disappointed to be removed – and most likely rested for Argentina’s tilt at becoming only the third side to defend a World Cup title.