ESPN dumps cold water on Lionel Messi’s World Cup hat trick with ‘100% red card’ declaration

Lionel Messi has arrived to the 2026 FIFA World Cup aged 38, but that has had no impact on how he approaches games. Messi scored a wonderful hattrick on Day One of the World Cup, in Argentina’s Group J game against Algeria, with his team winning the game 3-0.

However, ESPN analyst Ale Moreno claimed post-game that Messi should have been given a red card for his challenge on Algerian captain Mandi minutes after scoring the game’s opener in the 17th minute. Moreno even suggested that the lack of action further adds to the view that the best players get preferential treatment in games.

“It’s 100% a red card for Lionel Messi,” Moreno said. “It should have been. I tell you what else is concerning, it plays along this narrative that great players get preferential treatment,” he said.
Moreno went in detail about the incident,

“Why is Szymon Marciniak, the referee, not being called over to see this? It should have been a red card for Lionel Messi. As much as I love Lionel Messi, that was a clumsy challenge, a bad challenge, and you’re raking the back of somebody’s calf, all the way up from the knee down to his ankle.”

Of course, the 8-time Balon d’Or winner made his opponents pay dearly. Messi opened the scoring after having a goal disallowed, which was also true for Algeria in the first half. The goal eventually came from a shot from outside the box, although the Algerian keeper, Luca Zidane, was at fault for the second goal, which came in the 60th minute.

The keeper pushed a tame shot into Messi’s path, who wasted no time in tapping it in. The third goal came in the 76th minute off another neat finish from the edge of the box, rounding off what was the Argentine’s first-ever World Cup hattrick.

The third goal also put Messi level with Miroslav Klose as the player with the most goals in World Cups, with 16, although Kylian Mbappe is just two goals away, with 14. Regardless, Argentina could not have asked for a better start as they attempt to defend their title, and will take on Austria.

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