World Champions, Argentina, began their FIFA World Cup title defence with a 3–0 victory over Algeria, as Lionel Messi made history with a hat-trick in Kansas City, www.aclsports.com reports.
Messi marked his 200th appearance for Argentina at Arrowhead Stadium by scoring his first-ever FIFA World Cup hat-trick, becoming the first player to feature in six FIFA World Cup tournaments.
With Riyad Mahrez on the bench, Algeria started well and briefly had the ball in the net through Farès Chaïbi, but the effort was ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
Argentina took the lead in the 17th minute when Messi scored with a trademark left-footed strike from outside the box, curling the ball into the top corner after being set up by Rodrigo De Paul.
Messi was involved in a challenge on Algeria defender Aïssa Mandi, but play continued with no disciplinary action taken.
Argentina controlled the match after the break, and Messi doubled the lead in the 60th minute with a composed right-footed finish from inside the box, beating goalkeeper Luca Zidane.
Sixteen minutes later, Messi completed his hat-trick with a close-range finish after an assist from Nicolás González to seal a dominant win for the world champions.
The hat-trick took Messi’s World Cup tally to 16 goals, moving him level with Miroslav Klose as the competition’s all-time leading scorer. His performance also lifted his World Cup goal contributions to 24, surpassing Pelé’s previous record of 21.
At 38 years, Messi became the oldest player to score multiple goals in a FIFA World Cup match, surpassing Roger Milla’s 1990 record, while also equalling the record of five goals from outside the box since 1966.
Argentina face Austria in their next Group J match, while Algeria will look to bounce back against Jordan
