Lionel Messi, at 38 years old, has achieved his first hat trick in the World Cup, leading Argentina to a 3-0 win over Algeria. This milestone makes him the joint highest scorer in men’s World Cup history, alongside Germany’s Miroslav Klose with 16 goals in total.

History of Hat Tricks

The term ‘hat trick’ originated in cricket in 1858 when English bowler H.H. Stephenson took three wickets off consecutive balls. The term has since been adopted in other sports, including soccer and hockey, to describe when a player scores three goals in one game.

Messi joins a list of greats who have scored World Cup hat tricks, including Pelé, Eusebio, Gerd Müller, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kylian Mbappé. The first World Cup hat trick was scored by American Bert Patenaude in 1930, in a 3-0 win over Paraguay.

Interestingly, World Cup hat tricks are becoming less common. The most hat tricks in a single World Cup was eight in the 1954 edition, and the only edition without any hat tricks was in 2006.

Original reporting: KSAT Sports (San Antonio) — read the source article.