A week out from his 39th birthday, he rolled back the years with a sensational display, the goals took his World Cup goal tally to 16 – moving him level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose as the all-time leading scorer in the competition’s history.
Making his 200th appearance for his country, Messi scored his first treble at a World Cup and making him the oldest player in history to score a hat-rick at the World Cup. The three-time world champions were made to work for victory at the Kansas City Stadium as they aim to become only the third nation to successfully defend the World Cup.
The Inter Miami forward curled home a wonderful opener in the 17th minute with the help of an assist from Rodrigo De Paul for his first goal curling the ball past Algeria’s goalkeeper, Luca Zidane.
However, Messi was very lucky to escape punishment for reckless challenge on Algeria’s Aissa Mandi midway through the first half.
Argentina’s second came from close range around the 60th minute when Messi pounced on a mistake from Zidane, before he sealed a first World Cup treble in the 76th minute when he arrowed home a thunderous strike from the edge of the area after taking the ball from Nicolas Gonzalez.
Argentina face Austria at the Dallas Stadium on 22 June.
