Missouri : Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic hailed Lionel Messi, saying, "class is permanent" after the Argentine legend scored a record hat-trick against Algeria in the defending champions' 3-0 win in their campaign opener at Missouri in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2026, as per Reuters.
After the match, Petkovic praised Messi's long-standing "class" and highlighted his extraordinary career, including eight-time Ballon d'Or wins, as evidence of his greatness. "Class is permanent, because we're not talking about any old player here, we're talking about a footballer who has won the Ballon d'Or seven or eight times in his career," said Petkovic, as quoted by Reuters.
In the match, Messi opened the scoring in the 17th minute after a quick free-kick from Rodrigo De Paul found him in midfield. He ran through the centre and hit a powerful long-range shot that went past goalkeeper Luca Zidane and into the top corner.
Messi scored again in the 60th minute after a clever pass set up Nicolas Gonzalez on the left. Mac Allister's long-range shot was saved by Zidane, but spilt into a dangerous area, and Messi quickly tapped in the rebound.
Reflecting on his team's play, Petkovic said that Algeria committed mistakes in the field and made it easier for Messi to score the first two goals, but acknowledged that Messi's sharp decision-making in key moments allows him to capitalise on such opportunities with ease.
"Unfortunately, we also afforded him an opportunity with the first and second goal, and we made it easier for him to score the goals. But Messi, with his clear thinking at crucial stages of the game, can do things that much more easily," Petkovic said.
"He has the privilege that the entire Argentina team works for him and supports him, and for several years, nay for decades, he's been doing incredible things. Argentina had 10 shots today, and seven of those shots came from Messi."
He said Messi benefits from strong support from the Argentina team and has consistently delivered incredible performances for years.
"It's not my style to blame one player or another but I do think we did make a few too many mistakes in terms of allowing the Argentina players to have free shots on goal. We can blame ourselves, but we need to work on this and we need to learn lessons from this," said Petkovic.
Petkovic said Algeria should not be too discouraged by conceding three goals, but needs to be more balanced and move the ball faster. "We mustn't be too down in the dumps about the three goals we've conceded, but we need to be a little bit more balanced. We need to move the ball a little more quickly. And we'll be up against a different calibre of opposition, so we'll have different expectations, but we need to make sure the team has that belief, because we know that we can do it," he said.
With the hat-trick, Messi registered his name in the record books for multiple accolades, the most notable being for the joint-most goals in World Cup history as he is now tied with Germany's Miroslav Klose for 16 goals on the all-time FIFA World Cup goal-scoring list
He also moved past Brazil's Ronaldo (15 goals), as well as Germany's Gerd Muller and France's Kylian Mbappe, who were both on 14 goals. Notably, the hat-trick also came exactly 20 years after Messi's first World Cup goal in 2006, which came in Argentina's 6-0 win over Serbia in the 2006 World Cup, adding a historic milestone to his landmark performance. The appearance against Algeria also marked his 200th international match for Argentina, and he became the first footballer to feature in six editions of the men's FIFA World Cup.