Undisputed GOAT Lionel Messi Ties the All-Time World Cup Goal-Scoring Record with a Hat-Trick

There are almost no more mountains to be climbed for Lionel Messi. Club trophies? He’s got 44 of those at the senior level, including La Liga, Ligue 1, the MLS Cup and the Champions League. He’s won Olympic Gold, Copa América and the World Cup for Argentina. And as far as individual achievements? No one has more Ballon d’Or statues than his eight. He holds the all-time assists record with more than 400 to his name, and is second only to Christiano Ronaldo for all-time goals.

When it comes to the World Cup, he’s the only man to win the Golden Ball twice, and after one match, he’s currently in the lead for 2026. That match, a 3-0 win last night against Algeria, marked his first ever World Cup hat-trick and left him tied as the all-time World Cup goal scorer with German’s Miroslav Klose. Messi was already tied for World Cup assists with his countryman Diego Maradona.

He’s 38 years old and shows no signs of slowing down. Throughout his career, he’s scored one unbelievable goal after another, while making the players around him better. All respect to Pele and Ronaldo, but Lionel Messi is, without question, the best to ever lace up his boots.

Earlier in the day, two of soccer’s brightest young stars, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, each had a pair of goals for their teams to sit atop the Golden Ball leaderboard. Enter the Messi show.

It began with a perfectly weighted pass from Rodrigo De Paul that broke through the Algerian midfield to find his team’s talisman in space. But Messi’s rocket from 25 yards was even prettier than the assist, knuckling away from keeper Luca Zidane to find the corner of the net. For his second, he reacted quickest to a parry by Zidane for a tap in, but his final goal was another beauty from outside the box.

His 57th career hat-trick comes 20 years to the day he scored his first World Cup goal on his tournament debut. Watch the highlights below and watch for the little Argentinian to add to his record tally to grow.