Argentina defeated France in the World Cup Final at Qatar’s Lusail Iconic Stadium thanks to Lionel Messi.
Football giants and former winners squared off in what was probably Messi’s final World Cup appearance at age 35.
The pregame headline focused on Messi’s illustrious career and his failure to win the World Cup trophy, which has prevented him from joining the ranks of football legends.
The Argentines took the lead in the 23rd minute, a brilliant work from Argentina on the left side found Di Maria moving towards the goal only for Dembele to make a bad-time challenge on Di Maria and allowed Messi to net his sixth goal of the tournament.
After 36 minutes, the South Americans had a two-goal lead after a great counterattack from the Argentine half found Alexis Mac Allister, who passed the ball to Di Maria, who calmly slotted it past the goalkeeper.
At the break, the South Americans still had a two-goal lead.
Argentina continued to dominate its European foe in the second half of the final, which was quickly becoming the most lopsided in FIFA World Cup history.
The French team appeared from their shadow and pull one goal back through Kylian Mbappe’s spot kick in the 80th minute.
The French drew level just a minute later, Mbappe latches on to a brilliant pass from Marcus Thuram and the French forward fires a first-time shot into the back of the net, Game on.
Both teams created chances at both ends but neither could find the winning goal as the match ended two-goal square at full-time.
The Argentine took the lead back through their magnificent captain Lionel Messi, who followed a rebound from Hugo Hloris’s save.
It was destined to be truly dramatic finale, Kylian Mbappe drew the French back on level for the second time to send the match into a penalty shootout.
The South American country won 4-2 in dramatic penalty shootout to give Argentina their first cup triumph since 1986 thereby writing Lionel Messi’s name into history books.
Argentina Claims 2022 FIFA World Cup Title
