World Cup 2026: Record-Breaking Lionel Messi Shines, But Should He Have Seen a Red vs Algeria?

This is Lionel Messi‘s world and we are all still living in it. At the age of 38, playing in his sixth World Cup 2026, he scored a hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria in Kansas City to draw level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose as the all-time top scorer in the history of the men’s World Cup.

After such an emphatic opening display from the holders, few would bet against Messi adding to his 16 World Cup goals as the tournament progresses. But the evening was not without its controversy. Between the moments of brilliance came an incident that raised a question many were reluctant to ask out loud: should the greatest footballer of all time have been sent off?

Ditch the Doubts. Messi Is Still Here.

In the weeks leading up to his sixth World Cup, a few questions hung in the air around Messi. How fit would he be at 38, with his 39th birthday just around the corner? Would he be a guaranteed starter for Argentina? Would he still have the energy and drive to dominate matches at this level?

It took him approximately 45 minutes to make all of those questions look deeply idiotic.

With just four minutes on the clock, Messi was back in his own defensive third, winning the ball back. Shortly after, he was haring after Algeria defenders with a purpose and urgency that had not always been evident in his club football in recent seasons. This was as lean and mean as Messi had looked for some time. The walking of recent years replaced with something altogether more urgent and predatory.

On the ball, he was as decisive as ever. He whipped a finish past Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane, only to be denied by a late offside flag. He swapped delicate passes with Thiago Almada and Rodrigo De Paul, dragging the Algerian defensive shape out of alignment with his movement and touch. And then came the opening goal.

Zidane might have done better with the effort. But go back to the beginning of the move and there was Messi, stationed on the halfway line, plotting a route through the Algerian structure as architect and assassin in the same flowing sequence.

The Hat-Trick That Made History

The second half brought more of the same. Messi played a gorgeous through pass that created a chance for Lautaro Martínez, and on the hour mark he plundered his second of the night after a goalkeeping error gave him the kind of opportunity that a player of his quality will bury every single time.

Then came the final flourish. A trademark finish whipped into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, the kind of strike that announces itself before the ball has even hit the net. It was a hat-trick that completed one of the great individual performances of any World Cup opening round.

The hat-trick drew Messi level with Miroslav Klose at the top of the all-time World Cup scoring charts.

Klose’s record had stood since the 2014 tournament. Messi has now matched it in his sixth World Cup appearance, at an age when most footballers have long since retired from top-level competition. The record outright, should it fall, will likely do so before this tournament is finished.

But Should He Have Been Sent Off?

As brilliant and utterly irrepressible as Messi is, there have been occasions during his illustrious career when opponents and opposition supporters have suggested he receives a degree of special treatment from referees. What is certain is that, between scoring his first and second goals against Algeria, he got lucky. Very lucky.

A challenge on Algeria captain Aïssa Mandi, who was caught by Messi on his right calf and Achilles tendon, could have earned at minimum a yellow card and plausibly, given the nature of the contact, a red. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak was content to award only a free kick and move on.

It was a strange incident in multiple respects. Mandi was in control of the ball and going nowhere at pace. There was little realistic prospect of Messi dispossessing him from the position he was in. To make a lunge with his studs up in those circumstances seemed not just unnecessary but dangerous. Had the contact been a fraction more severe, or had Mandi suffered an injury as a result, the conversation around the referee’s decision would have been considerably less comfortable.

Special treatment? At the very least, it was lenient refereeing. A yellow card would have been the most widely expected outcome in most other circumstances. A red card was not an unreasonable second interpretation. Messi was fortunate to escape without any sanction at all.

There is a broader dynamic at play here, one that is rarely discussed openly but is understood across the game. Referees do not want to be remembered as the official who sent off the greatest player in the history of football in his final World Cup. The weight of that moment, the global reaction it would generate, the way it would define a career in officiating, creates a pressure that is almost impossible to quantify but entirely real. Whether that pressure influenced Marciniak’s decision on the night is something only he can answer. What is clear is that Messi was given a significant benefit of the doubt that another player, in the same situation, may well not have received.

What the Performance Means for Argentina

Argentina arrived at World Cup 2026 as holders, winners of the 2022 tournament in Qatar in one of the most dramatic finals in the competition’s history. The expectation on this squad is enormous, and the opening performance against Algeria will have done nothing to diminish the sense that they are equipped to defend their title.

The partnership between Messi and Lautaro Martínez remains one of the most potent in international football. The creativity of Almada and De Paul in midfield continues to give Argentina a quality in the transition that few nations can match. And Messi himself, whatever doubts existed before the tournament began, has now answered every question with a hat-trick on the opening night.

The one area where Argentina will need to improve as the tournament progresses is defensive focus in the periods when they are not dominating possession. Algeria offered relatively limited attacking threat in this match, but stronger opponents will demand greater concentration.

When Do Argentina Play Next?

Argentina’s second Group J fixture takes place on Monday, June 22, when they face Austria in Dallas. Kick-off is at 1pm ET.

Algeria, meanwhile, face Jordan in San Francisco on the same day, with kick-off at 11pm ET.

The knockout stage implications are also worth noting.

Argentina will be targeting top spot in Group J. On this evidence, it would take a significant effort from Austria or the remaining group opponents to prevent them from achieving it.

The Bigger Picture for Messi and This World Cup

There is a temptation, when watching Messi perform at this level at 38 years old, to frame everything through the lens of legacy and farewell. The final World Cup. The last dance. The closing chapter of the greatest individual career the sport has ever produced.

But watching him against Algeria, that framing felt premature and perhaps beside the point. This was not a player managing himself through a tournament on reputation and experience. This was a player who was the most dynamic, most decisive and most dangerous on the pitch for significant stretches of the match. The movement was sharp. The passing was immaculate. The finishing was clinical. The reading of the game was, as it has always been, in a category of its own.

At 16 World Cup goals and counting, Messi now sits alongside Klose at the summit of the sport’s most celebrated individual scoring record. The outright record is there to be broken, and the manner of this performance suggests it is a question of when rather than if.

The hat-trick, the record, the moments of genius that lit up Kansas City. All of it was vintage Messi. The one blemish, the challenge on Mandi that should at minimum have produced a yellow card, is a footnote in what was otherwise an evening of pure brilliance.

But it is a footnote worth remembering. Greatness does not make recklessness invisible. It only makes it easier to overlook.

Read More: World Cup 2026: Cristiano Ronaldo Remains Portugal’s Biggest Name But Is He Still Their Biggest Threat?

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