Argentina in awe of Messi after his historic night: «No words» | OneFootball

Argentina made their debut at the 2026 World Cup with a 3-0 thrashing of Algeria, although the main star of the night in Kansas was Lionel Messi, who scored a hat-trick for the first time in his World Cup career. In doing so, he reached 16 goals and now shares the record for the most goals scored in history with Germany’s Miroslav Klose. After the match, Alexis Mac Allister, Lionel Scaloni, and Rodrigo De Paul showed their total admiration for Argentina’s No. 10. “There are no words to describe him,” they agreed.

The first to speak was Mac Allister, who stressed the importance of having the Argentine star in the team: “If anyone thought the team was better without Leo, today it became clear that he is the most important of all. We have to build a team for him, where he feels comfortable.” He also added: “That’s what we’re doing today, and he’s doing well, he’s happy and scoring goals.”

Alexis Mac Allister’s statements

“Speechless. What can I say? Anything I say is unnecessary,” Scaloni began in an interview with Tyc Sports. However, besides showing that he is somewhat used to these kinds of Messi performances, even though they still never stop amazing him, he also highlighted another aspect beyond football itself: “It’s not that I imagined it, he’s been doing this for twenty years. People in football want to watch him now, not just Argentinians. Beyond the result, you have to enjoy him because what he conveys to the whole world is incredible.”

De Paul, meanwhile, was not far behind and continued the stream of praise for Argentina’s No. 10, after a performance that will be forever etched in football fans’ memories: “There are no words for Leo, they’ve probably already said it all on the broadcast. Enjoy him as much as possible, don’t miss a single minute he spends in this shirt. The years go by for everyone, but I’m very happy for him and for the team.”

De Paul’s statements

So, aside from equaling German striker Klose’s mark, Messi also became the oldest player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup, doing so at 38 years, 11 months, and 23 days old. In this way, he surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo, who had achieved it at the age of 33 in Russia 2018. In addition, alongside the Portuguese star, they are the only two players to have scored in five different World Cups.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.