The spectacular hat-trick saw Messi draw level with German icon Miroslav Klose at the top of the all-time World Cup scoring charts. While the world celebrates his latest milestone, the Argentina captain remained typically humble when asked about his place in the history books alongside the game’s greatest strikers.
“I don’t look at the goals, the records… It’s an honour to be with Klose, Ronaldo is there too, (Kylian) Mbappe who scored two todaybut they’re just statistics, nothing more,” he remarked. “Ronaldo was one of the greatest I’ve ever seen and he’s not first. You try to do your best, as always. I didn’t see the goals on TV, I was enjoying them with my teammates and my family. I’ll watch them properly later.”
Despite the historic achievement and the eventual convincing scoreline, the Argentine skipper acknowledged that the match against their African opponents was far from straightforward early on. Reflecting on the victory, he used the opportunity to highlight the rising difficulty of the modern international game.
“They have good players, they are dynamic and we tried to dominate the game, but we struggled with possession, as we generally do, especially in the first half,” Messi remarked. “You can see in this World Cup that all the teams are well-prepared, there are strong teams, you can tell that nobody gives anything away.”
