Kansas City: Lionel Messi registered his first World Cup hat-trick while moving into a tie for first on the tournament’s career scoring list on Tuesday night, sending defending champion Argentina to a dominant 3-0 victory over Algeria in their group opener.
Messi scored his first goal in the opening minutes off a nifty feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second early in the second half, and the third moments before subbing out to a standing ovation from a heavily pro-Argentina crowd.
Lionel Messi celebrates scoring his second goal against Algeria. Getty Images
The goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro – he scored in that one, too – and gave him 16 for his career, putting him in a tie with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the career record.
They also helped Argentina get off to a better start than the last World Cup. Four years ago in Qatar, La Albiceleste were beaten by Saudi Arabia in their opening match, only to rally from there to win their third World Cup.