Argentina in awe of Messi after his historic night: ‘No words’ | OneFootball

Argentina kicked off the 2026 World Cup with a 3-0 thrashing of Algeria, although the star of the night in Kansas was Lionel Messi, who scored a hat-trick in a World Cup match for the first time in his career. With that, he reached 16 goals and now shares the all-time scoring record in World Cup 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 all agreed.

The first to speak was Mac Allister, who emphasized how important it is to have the Argentine superstar 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 around 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 comments

“Speechless. What can I say? Anything I say would be unnecessary,” Scaloni began in an interview with Tyc Sports. However, besides showing that he is somewhat used to performances like these from Messi—though they still never stop amazing him—he also highlighted another aspect beyond the sporting side: “It’s not that I imagined it; he’s been doing this for twenty years. People in football want to see 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, lastly, was not to be outdone and continued the stream of praise for Argentina’s No. 10, after a performance that will be etched forever 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. Time passes for everyone, but we’re very happy for him and for the team.”

De Paul’s comments

So, aside from equaling German striker Klose’s mark, Messi also became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup, doing so at 38 years, 11 months, and 23 days old. In this way, he surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo, who had done it at age 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.