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Back in the heyday of their greatest moments, at the top of their game, South Americans gave birth to a proverb in Spanish when talking about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. But for the sake of brevity, I will translate it.
Ronaldo may be the best player in the world, but Messi? He is from another planet.
So on Tuesday night, under the skies of Kansas City – a city famous as the capital of American football – in a record sixth World Cup, Lionel Messi reminded America and the world of his otherworldly qualities, scoring the first hat-trick of his World Cup career in Argentina’s 3-0 victory over Algeria.
The three goals put him joint top of the list for most men’s World Cup goals (16) with Germany’s Miroslav Klose. A record he will surely break when La Albiceleste face Austria next Monday in Dallas.
What’s more, Messi – aged 38 years and 357 days – became the oldest male player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup, surpassing Ronaldo by five years. He also now holds the record for the youngest and oldest Argentina goalscorer (18 years old in 2006 and 38 now) and has scored in five consecutive World Cup matches. If he scores again, he will have a new record.
Do you want another one? For Argentina, he is the first man from the national team to score in five consecutive World Cups, surpassing Hernán Crespo and Guillermo Stábile. It was his 11th overall treble for his national team.
The hat-trick itself was the epitome of Messi.
The opener came in the 17th minute and it was a golden, left-footed rocket that was too much for Luca Zidane – the second son of Zinedine, who was there and could only wonder what Leo had just done to his second-born.
The second, in the 60th minute, was just one example of his quick instincts after the aforementioned Zidane wasted the effort from Alexis Mac Allister and Messi was the first to react.
I want to remind everyone that he turns 39 in eight days and his instincts remain intact.
Then came the cherry on top in the 76th minute when Messi took the ball out of the box and it was almost as if Algeria had accepted their fate.
Keep going, Leo. It doesn’t matter what we do, you’re still going to score.
And he did as the Argentina captain looked up and without hesitation placed it into the bottom right of Zidane’s goal.
The stadium erupted and three minutes later the world rose to marvel and celebrate greatness as Messi was subbed by Nico Paz. Some things, Lionel Scaloni believed, are better off with an earlier ending to fully appreciate them.
Bigger obstacles will surely come in the tournament for Argentina and Messi, who knows that the most important part of this particular World Cup is to look after his physical condition.
And since time waits for no one, we can only reflect that this is indeed his last tournament. But for tonight, in Argentina’s opening win, as it looks to defend its glorious title, we once again thanked the football gods that Lionel Messi has not abandoned us.
He is here a lot.
Luis Miguel Echegaray is the author of “Messi Mania,” his debut book about the World Cup champion, his incredible career and how his arrival at Inter Miami in 2023 affected the American sports landscape.
