Messi Rolls Back the Years to Stalk Klose's All-Time World Cup Record

Lionel Messi sits level with Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals at the age of 38, and he has at least two more group games to claim the all-time record outright. The defending champion staked his claim with a hat-trick in Argentina's 3-0 win over Algeria, becoming the oldest player to score a treble in World Cup history.

He is not the only superstar chasing the record books. Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland both scored twice in their openers, and all three nations play their second group fixtures within hours of each other on Tuesday.

Messi defies the years in pursuit of Klose's crown

The headline at the 2026 World Cup is not that three stars scored. It is that a 38-year-old is rolling back the years to chase a record that has stood untouched for 12 years.

Joint-top and the oldest hat-trick scorer ever

Messi's treble against Algeria took him to 16 finals goals, drawing him level with Klose's all-time record set in 2014. In the same afternoon he became the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick.

With Argentina already off to a winning start and likely to progress, Messi has at least two more group games to break clear. He looks odds-on to do it.

Messi won the Golden Ball in 2022 and, on this evidence, you would not bet against him repeating it this summer.

A slower path than Klose, and a younger man closing in

The numbers carry a caveat. Klose reached 16 goals in 24 games. Messi has needed 27. The record will fall, but not at the German's rate.

There is a sharper threat behind him. Mbappe has 14 World Cup goals from just 15 games, a games-per-goal rate that dwarfs Messi's. The old king holds the lead, but the new order is gaining fast.

• Messi: 16 goals in 27 games, age 38
• Klose (record): 16 goals in 24 games
• Mbappe: 14 goals in 15 games, age 27

Worth noting too that Algeria offered limited resistance. Opening-game opposition can flatter a goal haul, and Austria in Group J at 6pm will be a firmer test of whether the legacy chase has legs.

Mbappe's twin shot at history: all-time record and a Golden Boot first

Mbappe got the tournament rolling with a stunning double against Senegal, a strike that made him France's all-time record goalscorer. He has two pieces of history in his sights this summer.

The first player to win multiple Golden Boots

The 27-year-old struck eight times to win the Golden Boot in Qatar, a run that included a hat-trick in the final defeat to Messi's Argentina. No player has ever won the award twice. Mbappe can be the first.

His all-time goal tally of 14 puts the overall record within reach across a tournament or two, but the Golden Boot is the more immediate prize. France face Iraq at 10pm in Group I, fixtures that should keep the goals flowing.

Kane and a crowded scramble for the boot

Mbappe will not have it to himself. Harry Kane, the 2018 winner with six goals, netted twice as England beat Croatia 4-2 and is back in the conversation.

• Joint top scorers (3 goals): Messi, Germany's Denis Undav, Canada's Jonathan David
• Previous winners in the field: Mbappe (2022), Kane (2018)

With Messi, Undav and David already on three, the Golden Boot market is as open as the all-time record is one-sided.

Haaland and the next 24 hours of records on the line

It surprises nobody that Erling Haaland is closing in on another goalscoring record. The Manchester City forward broke the single-season Premier League goal record on his debut campaign, and he wasted no time on the international stage.

A debut double in Norway's first World Cup since 1998

Haaland marked his World Cup bow with two goals in Norway's 4-1 win over Iraq, needing just 20 touches to do it. It was Norway's first appearance at the tournament since 1998, and Haaland became the first player to score a double for his nation at a World Cup.

That haul immediately took him level with Kjetil Rekdal as Norway's joint all-time leading World Cup scorer.

One goal from sole ownership

Haaland can move clear of Rekdal against Senegal at 1am on Tuesday morning, the latest of the three marquee fixtures. A single goal makes him Norway's outright record holder at the tournament.

Three of the biggest names in the game, three records in play, all decided across a single day.

What happens next

Tuesday's schedule lines up the three storylines in sequence. Argentina face Austria at 6pm, France meet Iraq at 10pm, and Norway take on Senegal at 1am.

Messi needs one goal to claim the all-time record outright, Haaland needs one to stand alone for Norway, and Mbappe will look to stretch his Golden Boot lead while keeping Kane and the chasing pack at arm's length. All three are favoured to score against beatable opposition.

The longer view belongs to Messi. If the 38-year-old keeps this form into the knockouts, he turns a record-equalling tournament into a legacy-defining one, with Mbappe's superior rate hovering as the next chapter waiting to be written.