It’s safe to say that Erling Haaland is a big fan of Lionel Messi. On Wednesday morning, the 38-year-old Messi netted a hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup 2026 as defending champions Argentina swept past Algeria 3-0. Haaland was quick to react on Snapchat, posting a selfie with the simple caption: “Messi is a madman”. Hours earlier, the Manchester City striker had scored a brace in Norway’s thumping 4-1 win. In the picture, Haaland is seen sitting in an aeroplane, presumably on Norway’s flight back from Boston to their North Carolina training base after their match against Iraq.Erling Haaland tipped his hat to Lionel Messi (AFP)Followers of Erling Haaland know all about his Snapchat presence, with the 25-year-old’s unserious side on full display to his 2.4 million subscribers. He often posts his reactions to watching other football matches, and his social media activity is as entertaining as his on-field performances.Messi, on the occasion of his 200th international appearance, put on a vintage performance in Argentina’s opener, running the show and scoring three sumptuous goals. It was the fifth consecutive World Cup game in which he had scored, a run dating back to Qatar 2022, and a first-ever World Cup hat-trick at a record-breaking sixth World Cup, aged 38 years and 357 days, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo (33 years and 130 days) as the oldest to do so.Also Read: Lionel Messi equals Miroslav Klose's all-time World Cup goal-scoring record with historic hat-trick in 3-0 winHe now has the most goal contributions (24) of any player at the FIFA World Cup, passing Pele’s tally of 21. His 16 goals also placed him joint-top of the list for most World Cup goals among male players, equalling German Miroslav Klose’s record, which has stood since 2014. Among active players, he is the outright leading goalscorer (Kylian Mbappe briefly held that record for 4 hours after his brace in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal earlier on Wednesday).Messi, whose preparation for the World Cup was hampered by a hamstring injury picked up last month, did not feature in Argentina’s first pre-tournament warm-up game against Honduras. He returned to action in their second friendly against Iceland, scoring a goal off the bench. Against Algeria, he was named in the starting XI and brushed off any lingering fitness concerns in sublime fashion.After just one game at this summer’s World Cup, he is top of the Golden Boot standings with three to his name. Behind him are six players with two apiece — Haaland (Norway), Mbappe (France), Kai Havertz (Germany), Folarin Balogun (USA), Yasin Ayari (Sweden) and Elijah Just (New Zealand). Messi is the eldest among them by far, 11 years senior to the 27-year-old Mbappe. He could not have scripted a better opening to his final World Cup campaign.On Instagram, his reaction to the win was simple: “Happy for the start, grateful for the love and very proud to see this group compete again as they have been doing it all these years.”Argentina will next be in action on Monday evening against Austria. Norway will take on Senegal on Tuesday morning.