Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick for Argentina against Algeria
in their World Cup 2026 opener but was spotted looking emotional after the first goal went in.The GOAT was asked about his tears after the game and said it was nothing to do with football.
“Honestly, completely unrelated to the sport, I went through some difficult, complicated days,” he told reporters after the game.
“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.”
Messi was also asked about equaling Miroslav Klose’s record as the World Cup’s all-time goalscorer but was typically humble about his latest achievement.
“Honestly, no [if he thinks about the importance of the record], 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,” he added.
“Mbappé 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.”
The GOAT will now be out to break that record when Argentina play again at World Cup 2026. The defending champions go on to face Austria and then wrap up their group campaign against Jordan.
