Lionel Messi made history Tuesday night, June 17, by tying Germany’s Miroslav Klose’s record for most men’s World Cup goals at 16 after scoring a hat trick to lead Argentina to a 3-0 win over Algeria.
The hat trick was the 11th of Messi’s international career but the first at the World Cup.
At 38, he became the oldest player to score three goals in a game at the tournament, making his 200th appearance for his country.
“It’s an honor being up there for what it means, being alongside Klose and [Brazil’s] Ronaldo, who is there also. But it doesn’t mean anything,” Messi said after the game. “[Kylian] Mbappé is there, too; he scored twice today. At the end of the day, they are stats and nothing more.
“It’s an honor to compete with them, but it doesn’t mean anything. For me, Ronaldo, whom I watched and is one of the greats, is not at the top. So, it’s just stats.”
The Argentina captain was left in tears after his first goal.
“Why did I cry? It was something completely unrelated to football,” Messi said after the match. “I went through some difficult days, but I’m grateful to the entire delegation and my teammates because they were always by my side, giving me a lot of strength to help me get through it.”
The goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro.