Lionel Messi becomes oldest player to score World Cup hat-trick, surpasses Cristiano Ronaldo

Missouri [US], June 17 (HBTV): Lionel Messi, at the age of 38, has broken his contemporary and arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo's record for the oldest player to score a hat-trick at the FIFA World Cup, according to Fox Sports. The Argentine legend opened his 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign with a brilliant hat-trick, leading Argentina to a 3-0 victory over Algeria on Tuesday (local time).

At 38 years and 357 days, Messi became the oldest player in men's World Cup history to register both a brace and a hat-trick. In the process, he surpassed Ronaldo to become the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick, overtaking the Portuguese star's record set at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where he scored a hat-trick against Spain at the age of 33, according to Fox Sports.

Messi, making his 200th appearance for Argentina, scored three different types of goals. His first came from a powerful long-range strike in the 17th minute following a quick free-kick from Rodrigo De Paul.

His second was a close-range finish after a rebound fell kindly in the box following an effort from Alexis Mac Allister. He completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute with a composed curling finish after initiating the move himself with a mazy run.

With the hat-trick, Messi added several records to his name, the most notable being equalling the all-time men's FIFA World Cup scoring record. He is now tied with Germany's Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals.

He also moved past Brazil's Ronaldo, who scored 15 World Cup goals, as well as Germany's Gerd Muller and France's Kylian Mbappe, who have 14 goals each. Notably, Mbappe had earlier matched Muller's tally with a brace in France's 3-1 victory over Senegal.

The hat-trick also came exactly 20 years after Messi scored his first World Cup goal in Argentina's 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, adding another historic milestone to his landmark performance.

(ANI)