- Full Time
- 82'R. Zerrouki on for N. Bentaleb
- 81'A. Boulbina on for I. Maza
- N. Otamendi on for C. Romero80'
- N. Paz on for L. Messi80'
- L. Messi76'
- 64'R. Mahrez on for A. Hadj Moussa
- 64'M. Amoura on for A. Gouiri
- 64'H. Aouar on for H. Boudaoui
- L. Messi60'
- J. Alvarez on for Lautaro Martínez55'
- N. González on for T. Almada55'
- N. Molina on for G. Montiel46'
- Half Time
- L. Messi17'
- 9'F. Chaïbi Goal disallowed
- Kick Off
-
1
Lionel Messi3
- 1Lionel Messi6
- 2
Farès Chaïbi3 - 3Alexis Mac Allister2
- 1Enzo Fernández3
- 2Rayan Aït-Nouri3
- 3Gonzalo Montiel2
- 1Rodrigo De Paul1
- 2Nico González1
- 1Lionel Messi2
- 2Enzo Fernández1
- 3Rodrigo De Paul1
- 1Aïssa Mandi100
- 2Ramy Bensebaini89
- 3Cristian Romero65
- 1Rayan Aït-Nouri3
- 2Ibrahim Maza2
- 3Rodrigo De Paul1
- 1Ramy Bensebaini3
- 2Enzo Fernández2
- 3Rodrigo De Paul2
Argentina kicked-off the defence of their World Cup crown in style after Lionel Messi inspired the holders to a superb 3-0 win over Algeria in their Group J opener.
Lionel Scaloni’s men arrived in the United States aiming to become the first country since Brazil in 1962 to successfully retain the World Cup, and they immediately showed why many consider them among the favourites for the trophy once again after Messi’s stunning individual display gave his country a statement win Kansas City.
Messi thought he’d given Argentina an early lead only for his goal to be ruled out for offside. Algeria responded with a goal themselves, which was also ruled out.
However, Messi didn’t have to wait too long to open his account at the tournament, curling a brilliant strike into the corner from outside the penalty area to spark wild celebrations among the Argentina supporters.
The 38-year-old doubled Argentina’s advantage just after the hour mark. Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane – son of Zinedine – could only parry Alexis Mac Allister’s long-range effort into the path of Messi, who was left with the simple task of converting from close range.
Messi completed his hat-trick 16 minutes later to put the result beyond doubt. The veteran forward exchanged passes with Nicolas Gonzalez before calmly firing home from the edge of the box to cap another memorable performance on football’s biggest stage.
It wasn’t a bad way for Messi to mark his 200th appearance for Argentina, with his hat-trick drawing him level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the all-time mark of 16 World Cup goals, a record he will now fancy his chances of breaking when Argentina take on Austria in their next Group J game on Monday.
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