Argentina made a smooth debut at the 2026 World Cup and decisively defeated Algeria 3-0. The world champion demonstrated its superiority from the start, and the great protagonist of the evening was Lionel Messi, the author of all three goals.
The match had a hectic start, with a goal disallowed by each side in the first minutes, both phases being invalidated for offside. After these warnings, the Argentines took control of the game and Messi opened the scoring with a spectacular move in the 17th minute. The South American star recovered the ball in the opposition half, advanced towards the goal and finished with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
Messi settled the match with a hat-trick
Even after the break, Argentina did not lift its foot from the accelerator. Luca Zidane’s chances on goal kept coming and after a crucial miss from Lautaro Martinez, Lionel Messi struck again in the 60th minute to make it 2-0.
The Argentine star completed his perfect evening in the 74th minute. He started a quick move from midfield, combined brilliantly with Nicolas Gonzalez and finished accurately from the edge of the box, with no chance for the Algerian goalkeeper.
A new record for the Argentine star
With the three goals, Messi continued to make history at what could be his last World Cup. After becoming the first footballer to feature in six different editions of the final tournament, the Argentina captain reached 16 World Cup goals and equaled Miroslav Klose in the competition’s all-time leading scorers list. At the same time, the match with Algeria was also special in that it represented the 200th match in the career of the legendary striker for the Argentine national team.
