Lionel Messi Shines in World Cup Opener Against Algeria
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lionel Messi stood alone for a moment on the Arrowhead turf, his white-and-blue shirt pressed to his face, tears cutting through the sweat. The stadium roared, but Argentina’s captain seemed briefly somewhere else, lost in something heavier than a World Cup opener against Algeria.
Then he went back to doing what he has done for two decades.
He scored again. And again.
By the time he walked off to a standing ovation from 69,045 fans, Argentina had beaten Algeria 3–0, Messi had a hat trick, and the World Cup’s record books had been dragged a little further into his orbit.
A night of records and release
Any lingering doubt about his hamstring, his age, or his ability to drag Argentina toward back‑to‑back World Cups evaporated in Kansas City’s summer heat. At 38, days away from his 39th birthday, Messi ripped through Algeria and pulled level with Miroslav Klose atop the men’s World Cup all‑time scoring list.
He now shares that summit with the German on 16 goals, and it feels like a temporary arrangement.
The first strike, the one that broke him, came early. Rodrigo De Paul, his Inter Miami teammate and national-team lieutenant, slipped a clever ball into space. Messi, as he has done a thousand times, ghosted into the gap and finished. This time, though, the celebration cracked. He wiped his eyes, not his boots.
“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,” he said later, choosing not to reveal more. “I thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the delegation for helping me.”
The pressure on Algeria grew with every touch he took. The second goal arrived early in the second half, a predator’s finish from a rebound, Messi alive to the loose ball while defenders hesitated. The third was pure technique, a crisp, ruthless strike just before he was substituted, the timing perfect: goal, ovation, exit.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni could only shrug at the scale of it.
“At a loss for words about Leo. What can I say?” he said. “He’s incredible.”
Twenty years on, still the heartbeat
This World Cup opener landed on a date already inked in Messi’s story. Twenty years to the day since his debut on this stage, against Serbia and Montenegro, where he scored his first World Cup goal, he added three more and another layer to a career that has outlasted eras.
He has now scored in five editions of the men’s World Cup, something only one other player has done. His six World Cups are a record on their own. So are his 16 goals in the tournament, shared for now with Klose. The hat trick was the 61st of his career, his 11th for Argentina and, remarkably, his first at a World Cup.
It was also the fifth consecutive World Cup match in which he has found the net.
“It makes me very happy to have lived through everything that came my way. What I’m living though now is the cherry on top,” Messi said. “I’m very happy and grateful for this wonderful group. I enjoy it so much.”
On a night when two of the game’s other modern giants delivered statements of their own, Messi still stole the stage. In France’s 3–1 win over Senegal, Kylian Mbappé scored twice to move to 14 World Cup goals, tied for fourth on the all‑time list. Erling Haaland hit two as Norway swept aside Iraq 4–1.
Watching from afar, Haaland could only post one line during Argentina’s game.
“Messi is a madman,” he wrote on Snapchat.
Injury doubts swept aside
A few weeks ago, the storyline around Messi was more cautious. A minor hamstring issue with Inter Miami had limited his minutes and sparked concerns about how much he would have to manage himself through this World Cup.
Those fears looked badly outdated here.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner had already offered a hint in a sharp 20‑minute tuneup against Iceland, scoring from the spot and moving freely. Against Algeria, he looked like Argentina’s engine again, not a veteran being protected.
“This is my sixth World Cup, and I still feel like I’m in good shape,” he 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.”
His appearance was his 200th for Argentina, a number that underlines how long he has carried the shirt. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, on 228 caps and due to play his 229th on Wednesday, and Kuwait’s Bader al-Mutawa, with 202, sit above him on the men’s international list. Messi and Ronaldo now share another distinction: the only men to score in five World Cups.
From the opposite dugout, Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic could only acknowledge the obvious.
“Class is permanent,” he 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.”
Kansas City, painted in No. 10
This World Cup has brought Argentina to the American Midwest, one of four teams to base themselves in the Kansas City metro area. The effect has been immediate. Messi‑mania, already a global condition, has taken root in the Heartland.
On match day, the roads to Arrowhead filled with sky blue and white. Thousands wore the No. 10. They sang his name long before kickoff, turning an NFL cathedral into a South American cauldron.
Downtown, at the Power & Light District watch party, the spectacle took a literal turn. A goat, led on stage by former NFL quarterback and Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston, appeared in an Argentina jersey, a tongue‑in‑cheek nod to the “GOAT” debate that has rumbled for years.
An hour later, Messi scored. The joke felt more like prophecy.
With every World Cup game he plays, the argument over the greatest of all time grows quieter, not louder. Records fall. New milestones are treated almost as routine. The extraordinary has become his baseline.
For those closest to him in the Argentina camp, the numbers still come second to the person.
“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.”
The scoreboard in Kansas City read Argentina 3, Algeria 0. The real story, though, was that on a hot night in the American Midwest, 20 years after he first walked into a World Cup, Lionel Messi showed he is not finished rewriting how this tournament — and this sport — will be remembered.
