Lionel Messi delivered the first hat trick of his World Cup career on Tuesday, leading Argentina to a 3-0 win over Algeria in the team's Group J opener in Kansas City and tying Miroslav Klose's all-time record of 16 World Cup goals.
The 38-year-old Inter Miami captain scored in the 17th, 60th, and 76th minutes, becoming the oldest player in tournament history to record a World Cup hat trick. The match also marked his 200th international cap, making him the first man to appear in six different World Cups.
True to form, Messi marked each goal not with an elaborate celebration but the same simple gesture he's carried through his career: a glance and a point toward the sky.
The Argentine captain, a devout Roman Catholic, has long credited his ability to God rather than himself. "I always talk to Him, I thank Him, I ask Him for everything," Messi has said in past interviews about his faith.
He carries a tattoo of Jesus Christ wearing a crown of thorns on his right arm, a permanent marker of the beliefs he was raised with in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina.
Argentina, the defending champions, next face Austria as they continue their bid to become the first team since Brazil 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups. For Messi, Tuesday's record-tying performance was simply one more chance to point past the scoreboard, toward where he says the credit truly belongs.
