Argentina forward Lionel Messi enjoyed a memorable outing in his team's FIFA World Cup 2026 opener against Algeria in Kansas City on Tuesday, scoring a remarkable hat-trick to seal a 3-0 win.
Argentina are looking to become only the third team to defend the FIFA World Cup title, after Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962). Lionel Messi finally realised his dream of winning the FIFA World Cup four years ago in Qatar, when Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties in the final.
Four years on from that, the 38-year-old seems to be in no mood to slow down as he aims to help the Albiceleste defend their World Cup title. The Inter Miami and former Barcelona star set several records during Argentina's 3-0 win over Algeria on Tuesday. We take a look at the six records that he broke.
Joint all-time top-scorer in FIFA World Cups
His three goals against Algeria took Lionel Messi to 16 goals across six FIFA World Cup editions. By doing so, he levelled former Germany international Miroslav Klose's record of 16 World Cup goals, and surpassed former Brazil star Ronaldo's tally of 15 goals.
Oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick
The former Paris Saint-Germain player also became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in a FIFA World Cup match, aged 38 years and 357 days.
He broke Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo's record from 2018. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Ronaldo became the oldest player to score a hat-trick, aged 33 years and 180 days, when he did so against Spain.
First male player to feature in six FIFA World Cups
When Lionel Messi took the field against Algeria, he became the first male player to feature in six different FIFA World Cup editions. He surpassed Ronaldo once again, although the latter will equal the record should he start against DR Congo on Wednesday. Guillermo Ochoa has also featured in Mexico's squad in six FIFA World Cups, but he did not play against South Africa in the World Cup opener last week.
Oldest player to score a World Cup brace
Lionel Messi also became the oldest player to net a brace (score two goals in a match), surpassing Cameroon legend Roger Milla's record from the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Roger Milla was 38 years and 34 days old, whereas Messi did so at 38 years and 357 days old.
Most goals from outside the box
Lionel Messi's 17th minute goal against Algeria was his fifth goal from outside the box, levelling the record of Brazilian legend Rivellino, since the data was first introduced in 1966.
Most FIFA World Cup matches
Lionel Messi extended his record of having played most FIFA World Cup matches. The match against Algeria was Messi's 27th FIFA World Cup match. Germany legend Lothar Matthaus is the next with 25 World Cup matches. Cristiano Ronaldo is in fifth place with 22 FIFA World Cup matches to his name.
