Lionel Messi scored three goals against Algeria on Tuesday night, tied Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup goals record at 16, and the closing argument in the GOAT debate was delivered not by a pundit but by Ronaldo Nazario — the Brazilian striker whose 15-goal record Klose broke in 2014, the original Ronaldo that soccer measured everyone else against.
Ronaldo Nazario told Mundo Deportivo: “Every time Messi steps onto the pitch, everything becomes historic and elegant. It is time for the world to stop hiding and accept the fact that he is the greatest player of all time.” That’s not praise. That’s a surrender, issued by someone who once held this record himself, who watched Klose break his 15-goal mark in 2014, and who just watched a 38-year-old Argentine finish what he started.
The hat trick itself was everything. Three goals at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City: a left-foot strike from distance in the 17th minute, a composed finish in the 60th, an exquisite shot into the bottom corner in the 76th. Argentina 3, Algeria 0. His 11th career hat trick for Argentina, his first ever at a World Cup, on his 200th cap, twenty years to the day of his World Cup debut.
https://x.com/PatrickMahomes/status/2067074918408421792
Patrick Mahomes sent three goat emojis. From his own stadium.
The numbers on a 38-year-old Messi’s World Cup hat trick deserve a full stop. Klose’s 16 goals came across 2002 to 2014, peak years for a world-class striker at full physical capacity. Messi’s 16 came across six FIFA World Cup tournaments, starting as a 19-year-old in 2006 against Serbia and Montenegro, still not ending — here in Kansas City at an age when most players are doing television commentary. The argument about what aging does to elite athletes has never had a less cooperative subject.
Here’s what I keep returning to: Ronaldo Nazario is not an endorser with a check to cash. He had 15 World Cup goals, second all-time, before Klose broke his record in Brazil’s 7-1 collapse. He has every reason to defend his era. He chose not to. He said, publicly and without hedge, that Messi is the greatest of all time — and he said it the night Messi tied Klose, not before, not as a theoretical. He is the Brazilian who set the standard for a generation, who owned this record before Klose claimed it. The original just passed the verdict.
Ronaldo Nazario added: “He continues to deliver an exceptional performance every season, and yet, at the World Cup, there are still doubts about him.” That second sentence is the tell. The doubts that have followed Messi through six World Cup tournaments and one 2022 title that took 36 years to deliver are exactly what make this verdict land with the weight it does. The original Ronaldo obliterated them.
The Messi World Cup goals record sits at 16, tied with Klose, with Argentina still very much in this tournament. What the knockout rounds bring next is no longer a subplot. It’s the main event.
The debate is over. Ronaldo Nazario said so. Case closed.
