Records are never truly safe when Messi is on the pitch
Messi's three goals vs Algeria equaled Klose's 16-goal World Cup record set in 2014, surpassing Ronaldo and other legendary scorers. The Argentine star has scored across five World Cup tournaments since 2006, with his most prolific being 2022 when he led Argentina to their third title.
- Messi scored 3 goals vs Algeria on June 17, 2026, reaching 16 World Cup goals
- He tied Miroslav Klose's record set in 2014 after 12 years
- One goal vs Austria on June 22 will make him the all-time leading scorer
- Messi has scored across five World Cups since 2006, with 7 goals in 2022 when Argentina won the title
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick against Algeria in FIFA World Cup 2026, reaching 16 World Cup goals to tie Miroslav Klose's long-standing record. One more goal will make him the tournament's all-time leading scorer.
Lionel Messi walked onto the field in Kansas City on Wednesday carrying the weight of a record that had stood for twelve years. By the time he left it, he had tied it.
The Argentine forward scored three goals against Algeria in his country's opening match of the 2026 World Cup, bringing his career tally in the tournament to sixteen. That number now sits alongside Miroslav Klose's, the German striker who set the mark in 2014 during what would be Germany's last World Cup triumph. For more than a decade, Klose's sixteen had seemed untouchable. Messi made it look inevitable.
The first of his three came in the 17th minute—a sumptuous strike that moved him level with Kylian Mbappé and Gerd Müller. By the 60th minute, after an opportunistic finish, he had drawn even with Ronaldo at fifteen goals. Sixteen minutes later, the record was his to share. Messi had climbed the mountain in a single afternoon.
What makes the achievement sharper is the path he took to get there. His World Cup journey began in 2006, when he scored once as a teenager making his debut on football's greatest stage. He returned in 2010 goalless, watching Argentina fall to Germany 4-0 in the quarterfinals at Cape Town—a match in which Klose himself scored twice. In 2014, Messi added four more. One followed in 2018. Then came 2022, when he scored seven times and led Argentina to their third World Cup title, thirty-six years after Diego Maradona had done the same.
Now, at thirty-nine, Messi is on the threshold of becoming the tournament's all-time leading scorer outright. One goal against Austria on June 22 will do it. Coach Lionel Scaloni withdrew him after eighty minutes against Algeria, a decision that spoke to both mercy and calculation—rest the aging genius, but leave him hungry for what comes next. Nico Paz took his place.
Klose, who scored his record-tying goal in his 24th World Cup match, had held the record longer than anyone expected. But records, as the saying goes, are never truly safe when Messi is on the pitch. In five tournaments across two decades, he has rewritten the script of what is possible. One more goal will make him the undisputed king of World Cup scoring.
Notable Quotes
Coach Lionel Scaloni withdrew Messi after 80 minutes, giving his star player a well-deserved rest— Match report
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does this moment feel different from his other records?
Because he's doing it at the end of his career, not the beginning. Most players peak and fade. Messi is still climbing.
Klose held this for twelve years. Does that make it more impressive that Messi tied it in one match?
It makes it different. Klose built his record over a lifetime in the tournament. Messi is compressing decades of excellence into his final act.
What about that 2010 quarterfinal loss to Germany? Does that shape what's happening now?
It haunted him for years. Klose scored twice in that match. Now Messi is erasing it by surpassing the man who beat him then.
He's thirty-nine. How much longer can he keep doing this?
That's the question everyone's asking. But he just proved age is almost irrelevant when you're playing at this level.
One goal against Austria makes him the all-time leader. Does he get it?
If the pattern holds, yes. But Scaloni rested him against Algeria. That suggests they're thinking long-term, not just the next match.