Argentina vs. Algeria Player Ratings: Man of the Match, Winners and Disappointments
Argentina is the reigning World Champions after winning the 2022 World Cup, and they continue to look impressive four years later as they debut in the 2026 World Cup with a victory over Algeria.
Argentina defeated Algeria 3-0 with three goals from Lionel Messi, who is now the joint top goalscorer at World Cups with Germany's Miroslav Klose; both players hold the record for 16 goals at a World Cup.
Argentina started the game strongly and thought they scored very early in the 6th minute through Messi, but the Argentine legend was offside. Another offside goal would arrive, but this time from Algeria. Fares Chaibi scored past Emiliano Martinez, but he was offside.
Algeria was defending well until Rodrigo De Paul found Messi in the middle of the pitch. With space, Messi fires a strike outside the box to score his first goal of the night.
Argentina would once again count on their captain to pull off another goal after a shot from Alexis Mac Allister was poorly saved by Zidane. Messi arrived for the rebound and calmly passed it into the net for his seocnd of the night.
Messi was in the mood tonight, and his hat trick was inevitable as on the edge of the box, he curled his shot into the bottom corner to make history. Messi made it 3-0 for Argentina and now has the most goals at World Cups with 16 alongside Klose.
The winner of the match is Lionel Messi, who was the best player on the pitch by far. Messi not only scored a hat trick, but also created the most chances on the pitch and caused many problems for Algeria.
The disappointment was Algeria's attack, which barely looked threatening after the offside goal Fares Chaibi scored in the 8th minute of the match.
Player Ratings for Argentina and Algeria (1-10)
- Emiliano Martinez - 6
- Facundo Medina - 6
- Lisandro Martinez - 7
- Cristian Romero - 7
- Gonzalo Montiel - 6
- Enzo Fernandez - 7
- Alexis Mac Allister - 7
- Rodrigo De Paul - 8
- Thiago Almada - 6
- Lautaro Martínez - 5
- Lionel Messi - 10(Man of the Match)
Subs: Nahuel Molina (6), Nico González (7), Julián Álvarez (6), Nicolás Otamendi (N/A), Nico Paz (N/A)
Algeria
- Luca Zidane - 5
- Rayan Ait-Nouri - 6
- Ramy Bensebaini - 6
- Aissa Mandi - 6
- Rafik Belghali - 6
- Nabil Bentaleb - 5
- Hicham Boudaoui - 5
- Ibrahim Maza - 6
- Fares Chaibi - 6
- Amine Gouiri - 5
- Anis Hadj Moussa - 5
Subs: Houssem Aouar (5), Mohamed Amoura (5), Riyad Mahrez (5), Ramiz Zerrouki (N/A), Adil Boulbina (N/A)
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 8:02 PM.