Defending champions Argentina kickstarted their World Cup defence with a dominant 3-0 victory over Algeria at the Kansas City Stadium, entirely orchestrated by Lionel Messi.
Arriving exactly 20 years to the day since his World Cup tournament debut back in 2006, the 38-year-old maestro turned back the clock to score his first-ever World Cup hat-trick.
The clinical display takes him to 16 career World Cup goals, equalling Miroslav Klose’s all-time tournament record.
In the other Group J fixture, Austria comfortably defeated Jordan 3-1, with Romano Schmid and Marko Arnautovic finding the net to keep pace with the South American leaders.
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