Lionel Messi is celebrating a dream, career-defining World Cup triumph as Argentina won the most dramatic final in history on penalties after Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick had kept holders France alive.
After 63 matches and a thrilling month of action, Sunday’s breathless finale was the wildest conclusion anyone could have imagined to the first finals held in the Middle East and Arab world.
Messi came to Qatar looking to crown a glittering career by leading Argentina to a third World Cup triumph and managed just that after a staggering 3-3 draw ending in a 4-2 shootout victory against France.
Argentina players celebrate winning the World Cup final (Nick Potts/PA)
Emiliano Martinez denied Kingsley Coman before Aurelien Tchouameni failed with his effort, with Gonzalo Montiel striking the decider to spark wild celebrations at Lusail Stadium.
Messi converted his effort in the shootout having opened the scoring on Sunday with a first-half penalty that was quickly complemented by Angel Di Maria’s fine goal against meek France, only for Mbappe to spark them to life.
The 23-year-old scored twice in 97 seconds to take match beyond 90 minutes and became the second player to score a final hat-trick when cancelling out what had looked to be an extra-time winner by Argentina’s captain.
But this was Messi’s final. This was Messi’s tournament – one that ended with him lifting the trophy aloft at the same ground where they suffered a humiliating loss to Saudi Arabia just 26 days ago.
The 35-year-old’s fifth and final appearance at this stage ended in glory as he captained them to their first World Cup triumph since the late, great Diego Maradona did so in 1986.
Lionel Messi has finally won the biggest prize in world football (Adam Davy/PA)
It was a blockbuster ending to one of the most controversial World Cups in history, with Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and criminalisation of same-sex relationships among the key issues.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino labelled it the best ever, but Human Rights Watch’s Minky Worden says it will be remembered “as the most expensive sporting event ever – and the most deadly”.
The organisers have largely kept quiet throughout a tournament that ended with a star-studded crowd joining the Argentina fans that have turned Qatar sky blue over the last month.
Their team flew out of the blocks in Lusail and looked up for the fight against jittery France, whose poor start was punished midway through the first half.
Di Maria brilliantly beat Ousmane Dembele and hit the deck as the France forward attempted to halt him leading referee Szymon Marciniak to point to the spot.
Angel Di Maria grabbed Argentina’s second goal (Martin Rickett/PA)
Messi stepped up and fired into the bottom right-hand corner as Hugo Lloris went the wrong way and things got worse for France in the 36th minute.
Alexis Mac Allister played onto Messi and darted forwards. The skipper sent a beautiful flick to Julian Alvarez, who put the Brighton midfielder through to send a low first-time cross to the far post for Di Maria to score.
Didier Deschamps responded by bringing on Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani. Dembele and a fuming Olivier Giroud made way as France failed to muster a first half shot.
The match looked over as Argentina continue on top. Rodrigo De Paul saw a volleyed effort saved and Lloris denied Alvarez, with France taking until the 68th minute to register any shot.
The final appeared to be petering out, only for Nicolas Otamendi’s overzealous defending to give France a chance from the spot.
Kylian Mbappe scored a final hat-trick but could not retain the World Cup (Martin Rickett/PA)
Marciniak awarded a penalty for the foul on Kolo Muani and Mbappe beat Martinez with an 80th-minute goal that sparked an astonishing turnaround.
Coman dispossessed Messi at the start of a move than ended with 23-year-old meeting a return ball from Kolo Muani with a fizzing low strike past Martinez. An amazing hit, a remarkable moment.
Thuram was booked for a dive in the box as France sought a late winner, with Mbappe trying his best and Messi seeing a shot stopped before extra-time.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel