Argentina kicked off their World Cup title defence with a Lionel Messi-inspired 3-0 victory over Algeria in Group J.

Messi, the driving force behind Argentina's triumph in 2022, ensured it was a day to remember for the fans packed into Kansas City Stadium as he scored his first World Cup hat-trick as he became the first player to feature at six different editions of the tournament.

NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes was among those watching on from the stands as Messi, on his 200th Argentina appearance, equalled Miroslav Klose's record of 16 World Cup goals.

Kylian Mbappe had actually moved past Messi in the all-time scoring charts at the finals with his double against Senegal earlier in the day, while Erling Haaland got his maiden World Cup campaign off to a flyer with a brace for Norway.

But Messi, exactly 20 years on from his World Cup debut, made a statement of intent in the Golden Boot race.

He had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside call in the opening exchanges, before Fares Chaibi suffered the same fate at the other end as Algeria, whose star man Riyad Mahrez started on the bench, showed what they could offer in attack.

From then on, though, it was the Messi show.

He slammed in a sumptuous opener in the 17th minute, picking out the top-right corner from the edge of the box after latching onto Rodrigo De Paul's pinpoint pass.

Messi doubled up on the hour mark, displaying a poacher's instinct as he tucked home with his right foot after Luca Zidane, son of Zinedine, who was also in the stands, could only parry out Alexis Mac Allister's low effort.

And Messi's magical display was capped off in sensational style in the 76th minute, when, not long after he had been denied by Zidane, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner exchanged passes with Nico Gonzalez and curled a trademark finish into the bottom-left corner.

Evergreen Messi makes more history

Kansas City is known as "the home of soccer" in the United States, and so it was fitting that Messi put on a show in America's footballing heartland.

Messi had a team-leading six shots, surpassing the five efforts he had in the 2022 final, in which he scored a double, and also created two chances, more than any other player for either team.

At 38 years and 357 days old, Messi is the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick.

He overtook the record set by his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who was 33 when he netted three times against Spain back in 2018.

Messi also became the first Argentine player to score in five consecutive World Cup matches, surpassing Hernan Crespo and Guillermo Stabile (five each). This was his 11th hat-trick for his country, and 61st overall.

Now, Messi needs just one more strike to ensure he holds the all-time record for World Cup goals. Considering that, for so long, he had not really been able to hit his best form in this tournament, it makes his feat even more extraordinary. In fact, he has now netted 10 World Cup goals after he turned 35.

Ten of Argentina’s starting XI were members of their 2022 World Cup-winning squad, while nine featured in the final against France (six of them from the start), and while other favourites have taken time to click into gear, Lionel Scaloni's team showed they could still be the team to beat.