Lionel Messi has scored his first hat-trick at the World Cup in Argentina's 3-0 victory against Algeria in their opening match.
Messi equalled Miroslav Klose's all-time record for goals at World Cup tournaments when he completed the hat-trick against the North African team in the 76th minute.
The goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro — he scored in that one, too — and gave him 16 for his career.
They also helped Argentina get off to a better start than the last World Cup. Four years ago in Qatar, La Albiceleste were beaten by Saudi Arabia in their opening match, only to rally from there to win their third World Cup title.
Messi, who turns 39 next week, nearly had two other goals against Algeria, never once looking like the mild hamstring injury that worried fans in the run-up to the tournament was a problem.
One found the back of the net but was called back because he was ever-so-slightly offside, and another strike in the second half just cleared the crossbar.
He was a pest on defence, too, helping Algeria lock down the overmatched Les Fennecs.
Their best chance came in the opening minutes, when Fares Chaibi's would-be goal was taken away by a VAR review that showed he was also offside. Messi scored moments later, and the rest of the night belonged to him and Argentina.
Argentina will continue its pursuit of back-to-back World Cup titles in Arlington, Texas, when it plays Austria on Monday and Jordan on June 27.
Algeria plays Jordan on Monday in Santa Clara, California, before facing Austria in its Group J finale on June 27 back in Kansas City.
