What Lionel Messi said about tying World Cup record: Read translated transcript

Argentina star Lionel Messi took the field at Arrowhead Stadium on Tuesday with the fifth-most goals in World Cup history.

When Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria had come to an end, Messi found himself tied for the all-time lead. Messi had a hat trick and is now deadlocked with former Germany star Miroslav Klose for the most goals in World Cup history: 16.

There is a three-way tie for third: Gerd Muller, another former German, Brazil legend Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé, who scored two goals in France’s game earlier Tuesday. They all have or had 14 career goals.

Messi downplayed tying the record in a postgame interview. Here are his comments, as translated through the Google app from a video shot by The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff.

“The truth is that it’s an honor obviously to be there for what it means,” Messi said. “To be next to Klose, Ronaldo is also there, but I don’t think it means anything, right? Mbappe also scored two today. In the end, it’s statistics and nothing more. Although it is an honor to be able to compete with all of them, that doesn’t mean anything to me. For me, Ronaldo, from what I saw, was one of the greatest, and he’s not first, so it’s just a matter of statistics.”

Messi said he relates to retired tennis star Rafael Nadal, but he never considered another sport.

“I like to play soccer,” he said. “It’s my passion since I was little and when I’m good, I give my all. We’re watching the Rafa Nadal series (on Netflix) and I identify with it a lot. I think we’re very similar in that sense that I always want to give my all, I always want to feel good and I enjoy it that way. And as along as I can (play) and be fine to do it, it’s going to be great.”

Although Argentina rolled to the victory, Messi said his team didn’t take Algeria lightly. He clearly recalls Argentina’s loss to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“We knew it was going to be a complicated game because we knew that they have very good players, that they are dynamic, intense, that if we left them the ball, they could generate against us,” Messi said. “But I think we stood our ground when we didn’t have the ball. We were lucky enough to get the lead and manage the game, maybe not as we always do. It cost us a little the first half, but the second changed.

“It’s normal, always in the first matches of an official competition and more when it’s the World Cup are difficult. We had the experience of the last one too, and it was in the World Cup, that nobody gives anything away, that it’s a very competitive World Cup that the teams are strong ... they are all well-worked and all the matches are going to be very even, very intense. Physically there are many teams (that are) strong, they play well. The truth is that it’s all very even.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM.