Messi ties World Cup goals record with hat trick vs. Algeria

Lionel Messi delivered his first World Cup hat trick Tuesday night, matching Miroslav Klose's career tournament scoring record and giving thousands of Argentina fans packed inside Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City a moment they will never forget.

Messi scored his first goal in the opening minutes off a feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second early in the second half, and the third moments before subbing out to a standing ovation. Argentina faced Algeria in the Group J match on June 16.

The goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro — he scored in that one too — and made him only the second player to score in five editions of the tournament. Messi has 16 goals in his six World Cup appearances, and it seems inevitable that Klose's record will fall in the coming weeks.

The hat trick was the 61st of his career and his 11th with the national team. It was also the fifth straight World Cup game in which Messi has scored.

The performance upstaged two of soccer's other big stars. Kylian Mbappé of France scored twice in France's 3-1 win over Senegal earlier that day and is tied for fourth on the World Cup scoring list with 14 goals. Erling Haaland of Norway scored twice in its 4-1 win over Iraq.

Messi, who turns 39 next week, had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami in the lead-up to the World Cup, but showed no problems Tuesday. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner played 20 minutes in a tuneup last week against Iceland, scoring on a penalty kick.

Messi's appearance against Algeria marked the 200th of his international career, which began in 2005 when he was 18. Only Portugal's Ronaldo and Kuwait's Bader al-Mutawa have more international caps.