We may be only a week away from his 39th birthday, but Lionel Messi remains possibly the best player on the planet. On Tuesday night, the Argentine magician reminded the entire world of this by scoring a sublime hat-trick as la Albiceleste demolished Algeria 3-0 in Kansas City.
His first was a jaw-dropping long-range strike, after he'd already had a goal disallowed for a very narrow offside, before effortlessly stroking home the second after Luca Zidane had spilled a shot.
The hat-trick goal was trademark Messi, stroking into the bottom corner from inside the D with his left foot, as if it were the easiest thing in the entire world.
On the occasion of his 200th cap, Messi bagged a first-ever World Cup hat-trick, scoring in five successive matches at the tournament across 2022 and this edition. The third was also a landmark goal as it was his 16th at the World Cup, going joint-top of all-time scorers list.
World Cup all-time leading scorers
Players | Nation | World Cup career | World Cup goals |
|---|---|---|---|
Mirosłav Klose | Germany | 2002-14 | 16 |
Lionel Messi | Argentina | 2006-26 | 16 |
Ronaldo | Brazil | 1998-06 | 15 |
Gerd Müller | West Germany | 1970 & 74 | 14 |
Kylian Mbappé | France | 2018-26 | 14 |
Just Fontaine | France | 1958 | 13 |
Pelé | Brazil | 1958-70 | 12 |
Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 1954 | 11 |
Jürgen Klinsmann | Germany | 1990-98 | 11 |
Messi and now matched Mirosłav Klose's all-time World Cup record of 16 goals, also surpassing both O Fenômeno Ronaldo and Gerd Müller during a rather productive evening in Missouri.
Thus, the Argentine captain will be looking to become the competition's all-time leading scorer outright when la Albiceleste are next in action.
The reigning world champions face Austria on Monday, before concluding the group phase against Jordan the following Saturday, both at Jerry World in Texas.
However, if he wants to keep this record for at least another four more years, he may need to rack up the goals this summer.
That's because, Messi's former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé is closing in.
The Frenchman scored twice earlier on Tuesday as les Bleus beat Senegal 3-1 at MetLife Stadium, the second of which was an absolute rocket.
Thus, Mbappé now has 14 World Cup goals to his name, just two fewer than Messi, and next up for France is a clash with Iraq at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Thus, it is plausible that Mbappé bags a hat-trick in Pennsylvania, thereby overtaking Messi and Klose, if Argentina have drawn a blank four hours earlier down in Arlington.
This is certainly a race worth keeping an eye on this summer.
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