Lionel Messi once again made history at a World Cup. Argentina’s number 10 scored three times against Algeria this Tuesday (16), in the first round of Group J of the 2026 World Cup, and reached the top of the list of top scorers in the tournament’s history.
Com o hat-trick, Messi reached 16 goals in World Cups and equaled the German Miroslav Klose, who had led the ranking since the 2014 World Cup.
With these numbers, Messi totals 24 direct participations in goals (16 goals and 8 assists), making him the He surpassed Pelé, who registered 22 participations, with 12 goals and nine assists.
Earlier, another star also shone. scored twice in France’s victory over Senegal and reached 14 goals in World Cups.
The ranking now goes as follows:
- Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 16 goals
- Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 16 goals
- Ronaldo (Brazil) – 15 goals
- Kylian Mbappé (France) – 14 goals
- Gerd Müller (Germany) – 14 goals
- Just Fontaine (France) – 13 goals
Messi played in his first World Cup in 2006, in Germany, and since then he has been present in all editions of the tournament, participating in goals and titles.
Chosen by many as the greatest of all time, Messi has already lifted the World Cup trophy once and was runner-up on another occasion.
