Argentine captain Lionel Messi scored this June 16 in Argentina’s match against Algeria in the 2026 World Cup.
On June 16, 2006, an 18-year-old Messi debuted in Germany 2006 against Serbia and Montenegro. He entered in the 75th minute and scored the sixth goal of the Argentine victory. Two decades later, a few days after turning 39, he celebrated again at a World Cup.
The player from Rosario opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a powerful left-footed shot from outside the area, after an assist from Rodrigo De Paul. The score represents his 14th goal in World Cup finals and his first in this edition of the tournament.
According to records from the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Messi is the player with the most matches played in the history of the World Cups, surpassing the mark of 26 matches established by the German Lothar Matthäus.
With his score against Algeria, he reached 14 World Cup goals and equaled the figures of Gerd Müller and Kylian Mbappé among the tournament’s all-time top scorers. In addition, he remains the top Argentine scorer in the history of the World Cups.
Each appearance of Messi in this World Cup expands his records of participations, minutes played and presence in different editions of the tournament. The match against Algeria also represents his 200th match with the Argentina senior team. In these games he has scored 118 goals with the Argentine team.
The Albiceleste, current world champion, is part of Group J along with Algeria, Austria and Jordan. At the time of this publication, the meeting remains in progress at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
After this commitment, Argentina will face Austria on June 22 and will close the group stage against Jordan on June 27.
The match is in progress (final result will be updated)