Shortly before Cristiano Ronaldo steps onto the world football stage to begin his journey to his sixth World Cup (17/6-20:00/ Portugal DR Congo), as well as the top scorer in Europe for the 2025/26 season, Harry Kane with the “Three Lions” (17/6-23:00/ England-Croatia), the superstars who preceded the famous Portuguese, more than did their duty, shone in their matches and confirmed their legend. Lionel Messi with Argentina, Erling Haaland with Norway and Kylian Mbappe with France, scored for…fun.

From Messi’s hat-trick against Algeria, to Haaland’s two goals against Iraq and Mbappe’s against Senegal, these matches have encouraged those who support the favorites, according to a Reuters analysis.

Messi, in the twilight of his career after moving to Major League Soccer in 2023, Haaland having lost his form midway through the Premier League season and Mbappe after a slump in the second half of his La Liga season.

None of this applied in their teams’ opening matches, with all three players taking advantage of their opportunities to find the back of the net.

Mbappe saved France with his second-half goals against Senegal, who were often the more dominant side before his first goal in the final third of the match. His second goal, which found the back of the net, made him France’s all-time leading scorer with 58 goals, surpassing Olivier Giroud, as his team won 3–1.

Haaland, a dominant presence in English football with Manchester City, who had struggled to score in the middle of the season, showed his predatory instincts to help his team win 4-1.

But in the penultimate match of the day, it was Messi who showed why he is considered by many to be the best player on the planet. Despite being past his prime, with his 39th birthday approaching (June 24), he scored his first World Cup hat-trick in a 3-0 victory.

Messi now equals the World Cup record scorer, Miroslav Klose, with 16 goals. 

In fact, it is noteworthy that his first goal in a final was scored on this date 20 years ago, when he was 18 years old.