Zinedine Zidane on Algeria’s defensive collapse as Lionel Messi scores a hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 lead after 80 minutes of their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener: 🗣️ “I have to be honest, this has been very disappointing from Algeria. You cannot give players like Lionel Messi this much space and expect to survive. At this level, every mistake gets punished. Against Messi, every mistake becomes a goal. The defending has been far too passive. No aggression. No organisation. No communication. Argentina have looked comfortable from the first minute because Algeria have made life too easy for them. And when you allow a player of Messi’s quality to play without pressure, he will destroy you. That is exactly what happened tonight. People will talk about the hat-trick, and rightly so, because Messi has been magnificent. But some of these goals should never happen at a FIFA World Cup. The defenders were slow to react. The midfield offered very little protection. The distances between players were too big. Everything that could go wrong defensively seemed to go wrong. Messi deserves enormous credit because he has been clinical, intelligent and ruthless. But Algeria will have to look at themselves after this performance. Because this was not just Messi being brilliant. This was also a defensive disaster. At the World Cup, you cannot defend like this against one of the greatest players in football history. If you do, the result is exactly what we are seeing now.” {@sportbible }
