Argentina are beating Algeria 1-0 in Kansas City, United States, this Tuesday (16), in both teams’ opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The goal for the Albiceleste was scored by HIM — Lionel Andrés MESSI Cuccittini.
In his 200th game for the Albiceleste and as the record holder for World Cup appearances (27th match), Messi had some “help” from Lucas Zidane (son of the French and Real Madrid idol) to score his 14th World Cup goal.
Before that, Messi and Chaibi had goals disallowed for razor-thin offsides.
⭐ History
The goal against Algeria saw Lionel Messi break some impressive records.
The Argentine genius matched Rivellino with five goals from outside the box in World Cup history.
In addition, Messi reached 22 goal contributions (14 goals and 8 assists), surpassing Pelé (21) for the most G/A in World Cup history.
In the all-time World Cup scoring charts, Messi is level with Mbappé (14 goals), but behind only Ronaldo Nazário (15 goals) and Miroslav Klose (16 goals).
To round off Messi’s historic milestones, the Argentine star matched Cristiano Ronaldo as the only players in World Cup history to score in five different editions.
CR7 found the net in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022, while Messi scored in 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
