Argentina’s captain and forward #10 Lionel Messi (C) lifts the FIFA World Cup Trophy on stage as he celebrates with teammates after they won the Qatar 2022 World Cup final football match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022.
Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images
Argentina won their third World Cup in a rare final on Sunday as they beat France 4-2 on penalties after Lionel Messi scored twice in a 3-3 draw that featured a hat-trick for Kylian Mbappe because the holders recovered from 2-0 down.
It was a rare night of drama, high emotion and fluctuating fortunes, delivering one in every of the all-time great finals to cap a beautiful tournament as its two star players delivered command performances on the most important stage of all.
Argentina’s goalkeeper #23 Emiliano Martinez concedes a penalty goal by France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe (L) throughout the Qatar 2022 World Cup final football match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022.
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Argentina had appeared to be cruising to a one-sided victory after Messi’s penalty and a superb goal by Angel Di Maria in the primary half put them in total control but Mbappe converted an Eightieth-minute penalty and volleyed in an equalizer a minute later to take the sport to time beyond regulation.
Messi put Argentina ahead again but Mbappe leveled with one other penalty, becoming the second man to attain a World Cup final hat-trick after England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966.
France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team’s second goal throughout the Qatar 2022 World Cup final football match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022.
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That took the sport to a shootout where Argentina keeper Emiliano Martinez saved Kingsley Coman’s effort and Aurelien Tchouameni fired wide to provide Gonzalo Montiel to probability to win it, which he gleefully took.
Argentina has now won six of their seven World Cup shootouts, including the quarter-final against the Netherlands per week ago when additionally they blew a 2-0 lead, while France has lost three of 5, but with two of those defeats coming in finals.
It meant that after his record twenty sixth World Cup match, on the fifth and final time of asking, the 35-year-old Messi claimed the trophy he demanded, lifting him up alongside Diego Maradona, the country’s first football God who carried them to their emotional second triumph in 1986 following their first in 1978.
Argentina’s captain and forward #10 Lionel Messi, his wife Antonela Roccuzzo and sons Thiago (C) and Ciro pose with the FIFA World Cup Trophy after Argentina won the Qatar 2022 World Cup final football match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022.
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It seems all of the more incredible coming a month after his team began the tournament by suffering statistically the most important upset in World Cup history once they were beaten by Saudi Arabia.
“I cannot consider that we’ve got suffered a lot in an ideal game. Unbelievable, but this team responds to all the things,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.
“I’m pleased with the work they did. With the blows we received today, this makes you emotional. I need to inform people to enjoy, it is a historic moment for our country.”
Neat turn
There seemed little hint of the drama to come back as Argentina dominated the primary hour, outrunning and outfighting a flat French team in search of to be the primary to retain the title since Brazil 60 years ago.
They went ahead when the recalled Di Maria beat Ousmane Dembele and was tripped for a penalty that Messi slotted in after 23 minutes.
There then got here among the finest goals to grace a final after 36 minutes when instinctive passing by Nahuel Molina, Messi, Julian Alvarez and Alexis Mac Allister arrange Di Maris to slip within the second.
France barely fired a shot in anger until the Eightieth minute when Nicolas Otamendi tripped Randal Kolo Muani and Mbappe, previously anonymous, expertly converted the resulting penalty.
France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe takes a penalty to attain his team’s third goal from the penalty spot throughout the Qatar 2022 World Cup football final match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022. (
Franck Fife | Afp | Getty Images
A minute later he swept in a superb equalizing volley after combining cleverly with Marcus Thuram, stunning the massed Argentine fans watching their team concede two quick-fire goals for the third time within the tournament.
Argentina regained the lead after a counter-attack when the tireless Lautaro Martinez smashed a shot at Hugo Lloris and Messi pounced on the rebound with a rare right-footed finish, technology confirming the ball had crossed the road.
The drama was not over, nonetheless, as Mbappe hammered a shot against the arm of Montiel to win one other penalty within the 117th minute, which he calmly dispatched for an incredible hat-trick and a tournament-topping eighth goal.
He and Messi each converted the opening spot-kicks of the shootout but then needed to stand back and let their teammates determine their destiny.
