sports
On the World Cup's day of stars, Messi towers over Haaland and Mbappe
Key takeaways
- - As it happened: Messi scores sensational hat trick against Algeria - Mbappé rewrites France, World Cup history books as Les Bleus beat Senegal - Haaland shines on World Cup debut, and provides hope for Norway
- But Messi, who will be 39 next week, had other ideas.
- It's only a matter of time before Messi claims top spot for himself, but don't rule out the prospect of Mbappé dislodging him from that position before this World Cup is done.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
Algeria (0:31)
It was the day the FIFA World Cup superstars came out to play -- and score -- but the biggest star of them all is Lionel Messi, and he reminded the world that he is still the GOAT with a stunning hat trick against Algeria.
Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland had arrived at the tournament earlier Tuesday, and they announced their presence with the sound of the ball crashing against the back of the net with two goals apiece for France and Norway, respectively, in their games against Senegal and Iraq.
Article preview — originally published by ESPN. Full story at the source.
Read full story on ESPN →
More top stories
Also covered by
Aggregated and edited by the Scoop newsroom. We surface news from ESPN alongside other reporting so you can compare coverage in one place.
Editorial policy · Corrections · About Scoop