Argentina 3–0 Algeria

Lionel Messi's hat-trick against Algeria takes his World Cup total to 16 goals — equalling Miroslav Klose's all-time record, set across four tournaments between 2002 and 2014.

At 38, Messi is the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick — five years older than the next-oldest, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was 33 when he scored three against Spain in 2018.

Messi has now scored in five different World Cups — 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026 — equalling Cristiano Ronaldo's record. No other player in history has scored in more than four tournaments.

Argentina have now scored 150 World Cup goals, after netting 3 against Algeria.

Messi is the fifth Argentine to score a World Cup hat-trick, joining Guillermo Stábile (1930 vs Mexico), Gabriel Batistuta (1994 vs Greece; 1998 vs Jamaica) and Gonzalo Higuaín (2010 vs South Korea). Batistuta remains the only man to have done it for Argentina at two different World Cups.

Messi's three goals against Algeria are his first hat-trick at a World Cup — scored in his fifth tournament.

Argentina's 3-0 win over Algeria is their biggest World Cup opening-game victory since beating Greece 4-0 in 1994. It ends a run of two consecutive openers without a win — the draw with Iceland in 2018 and the defeat to Saudi Arabia in 2022. Argentina have now won 12 of their 19 World Cup opening matches.

Argentina and Algeria met at a World Cup for the first time. Argentina won 3-0.

Algeria's 3-0 defeat is their heaviest at a World Cup, equalling the 3-0 loss to Spain in the 1986 group stage.

Algeria's defeat leaves them with a World Cup record of 3 wins, 4 draws and 7 defeats in 14 completed matches across five tournaments. They have never progressed beyond the Round of 16.