Lionel Messi explains why he was crying during World Cup hat-trick | OneFootball

Lionel Messi has revealed why he was crying during his brilliant hat-trick against Algeria that drew him level with Miroslav Klose atop the all-time World Cup goalscoring list.

Messi inspired Argentina to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Algeria in their first match of World Cup 2026, netting a treble at the sport’s biggest tournament for the first time.

He opened his account on 17 minutes by curling home a fine strike from the edge of the area and was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.

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Lionel Messi celebrated with teammates after each goal (AP)

After the other players broke away, Messi was spotted wiping away tears on his shirt before play got back underway.

And the 38-year-old explained the emotion wasn’t anything to do with his on-pitch exploits.

“Honestly, completely unrelated to the sport, I went through some difficult, complicated days,” said Messi.

“I’m grateful to the entire delegation, to my teammates. They were always there for me, as always. They gave me a lot of strength to get through this, and that’s all.”

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Messi was emotional after his first goal (Reuters)

Messi is now tied with Klose on 16 World Cup goals, one clear of Brazilian star Ronaldo, while German legend Gerd Muller and Kylian Mbappe – who scored twice for France against Senegal just a few hours before the Argentine’s heroics – are tied fourth all-time on 14 goals.

The battle between Messi and Mbappe to top the list looks set to be one of the fascinating sub-plots of this tournament but the older man was adamant he doesn’t think about the importance of the record.

“Honestly, no,” added Messi when asked. “It’s an honour to be there because of what it means to be there next to Klose, Ronaldo is there too, but I don’t think it means anything.

“Mbappe is there, he scored two today. It’s a statistic and nothing more . While it’s an honour to be able to compete with all of them, it doesn’t mean anything to me .

“Ronaldo, from what I saw, was one of the greatest and he’s not in first place, so it all comes down to a statistic.”

Messi’s next opportunity to move clear of Klose into sole possession of first place will come on Monday against Austria, before argentina round out their group campaign with a clash against minnows Jordan the following Saturday (overnight into Sunday, UK time).