Lionel Messi scores a hat-trick against Algeria, setting multiple new World Cup benchmarks and surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s previously held mark. NDTV reports that Messi becomes the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick, moving past Ronaldo, who set the record during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia when he scored a hat-trick against Spain at age 33. Legit.ng similarly describes Messi’s performance as historic, stating that the hat-trick rewrites the World Cup record books and highlights that the Argentina captain achieves the feat at age 38. The sources agree that Messi’s goals against Algeria are the key match event driving the record changes, and they frame Ronaldo’s 2018 hat-trick as the earlier reference point that Messi overtakes. While the outlets focus on different record categories, they converge on the same core facts: Messi delivers a three-goal performance versus Algeria, and his age at the time of the hat-trick and his overall World Cup record achievements are what make the performance notable.