The game was decided on penalties after 120 minutes of crazy soccer. Two failed attempts from the French opened the door for Gonzalo Montiel, who converted the decisive shot on goal. The suspense was worthy of this final marked by three penalty shots, six goals and a plethora of twists.
The South Americans first opened the scoring in the 23rd minute on a penalty shot converted by Messi but obtained by Angel Di Maria, author of a strong game until his substitution in the 64th minute.
On the action, Di Maria skillfully erased Ousmane Dembélé with a left hook before inviting himself into the French penalty area. Beaten by the dribble and late in his defensive withdrawal, Dembélé mowed the heel of Di Maria, who collapsed before he could give the ball to a teammate.
Thirteen minutes later, Di Maria doubled his team’s lead, thus completing a magnificent collective counter-attack initiated in particular by Lionel Messi, imperial in the middle of the field.
On the game,the flea“,”text”:”the Flea”}}”>the flea, back to goal and under pressure, made a nice control before putting the outside of the foot in the right lane for Julian Alvarez. A deep pass later, Alexis MacAllister returned to his left for Di Maria, left completely alone by the French defence, which suffered badly in the first hour of the match.
In the second half, the Argentine domination continued for a time, and it was not until the 68th minute to see a first French shot attempt, the work of Randal Kolo Muani, entered in the 41st for his teammate Dembélé . This effort revived the eleven tricolor, which struggled to progress forward until then.
Muani, again, later got a penalty shot in the 80th minute, converted with panache by Kylian Mbappé, who immediately completed his double (81st) by scoring a magnificent volley from the entrance to the Argentine surface . This turnaround was worthy of the greatest occasions and came after a rare loss of possession by Lionel Messi in midfield, beaten by a tenacious Kingsley Coman on the streak.
Kylian BMappe celebrates France’s goal in extra time.
Photo : Archyde.com / DYLAN MARTINEZ
After the exultation, the rhythm of the French attacks accelerated and carried into the overtime periods. However, in the 108th minute, Lionel Messi struck once again in the hearts and minds of soccer fans by completing his brace on a Lautaro Martinez return shot that French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris could not control.
Lionel Messi scored in extra time to give Argentina a 3-2 lead.
Photo : Getty Images / Julian Finney
Two minutes from the end of extra time, when the game seemed to be folded, a strike from Mbappé blocked with the hand by the Argentine defender Montiel offered another penalty shot to the French prodigy. His second chance from 6 yards also landed in the back of the net, which sent everyone on penalties.
Montiel made a hand in the Argentine penalty area, thus giving a second penalty shot to MBappé.
Photo : Archyde.com / LEE SMITH
In this exercise, it was the Argentines who had the upper hand. Emiliano Martinez made the save on Kingsley Coman’s attempt before seeing Aurélien Tchouaméni miss the target, while the four Argentinian shooters to start all deceived Hugo Lloris.
At the end of the suspense, Argentina therefore won a first World Cup final in 36 years, thereby even offering the title of world champion to Messi. At 35, in his last game in a World Cup, the Argentine captain scored twice, in addition to scoring in the penalty shootout.
Seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, which rewards the best player on the planet, the Argentine talisman thus completes his collection of trophies by adding that of world champion, the only major one missing from his illustrious record.
Messi also became the first to score in the group stage, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final at a single World Cup.
Tournament MVP Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy.
Photo : afp via getty images / ODD ANDERSEN
This victory is also synonymous with a third star on Argentina’s sky and white jersey. The Albiceleste’s last World Cup triumph was in 1986, when Diego Maradona led his side to a 3-2 win over West Germany.
For his part, Kylian Mbappé’s late hat-trick gave him the Golden Boot for the tournament’s top scorer as well as the player of the match award. He became the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final after England’s Geoff Hurst against Germany in 1966.
At 23, the Frenchman already has 12 World Cup goals, equaling legend Pelé to become the sixth top scorer in World Cup history. He now finds himself only 4 lengths behind Miroslav Klose, record holder with 16 goals in 4 Worlds.
