Lionel Messi turned Argentina’s match against Argelia into a record-chasing night on 16 June 2026, scoring three times and matching Miroslav Klose’s World Cup mark of 16 goals. At 38 years and 357 days, he also became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup, a performance that gave him a new place in the tournament’s numbers while stopping just short of moving past the record he tied.
That is why Telemundo Live searches surged around this game: Messi did not just add to his total, he reached a line that had stood alone at the top of the World Cup scoring chart. He now has 16 goals and 8 assists in 27 World Cup matches, for 24 direct goal participations, which puts him ahead of Pelé’s 21 and leaves him among the most productive players the tournament has ever seen.
The scale of the achievement is easiest to see in the span itself. Messi’s first World Cup goal came on 16 June 2006 against Serbia y Montenegro, and his latest came exactly 20 years later, against Argelia. That makes him the player with the longest stretch between a first and last World Cup goal, and it also underscores how long his scoring has lasted across six World Cups from Alemania 2006 to Estados Unidos, México y Canadá 2026.
There is still one record line he has not crossed. Roger Milla remains the overall longevity benchmark with a goal at 42 years and 39 days in Estados Unidos 1994, so Messi’s hat-trick was historic without being the final word on age. He matched Klose, but he did not yet pass him, and that distinction matters because every goal from here would move him into sole possession of the World Cup scoring record.
For now, Messi stands at the center of the race he helped redefine. Ronaldo Nazário, Kylian Mbappé and Gerd Müller all remain behind him on the World Cup scoring list, and the next time he scores will not just add to a total; it will break the tie at the top that he reached in a single, decisive match.
