The match was decided by a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of crazy football. Two failed attempts by the French opened the door for Gonzalo Montiel, who diverted the decisive shot into the goal. The suspense was worthy of this final, which featured three penalties, six goals and a plethora of ups and downs.
South America opened the scoring for the first time in the 23rd minute, with a penalty kick that Messi converted, but Angel Di Maria, who had a strong match, got it until he was substituted in the 64th minute.
During the match, Di Maria skillfully obliterated Ousmane Dembele with a left hook before entering the French penalty area. After being hit by dribbling and trailing in his defensive withdrawal, Dembélé clipped 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 an impressive collective counter-attack that was particularly well initiated by the imperial Lionel Messi in the middle of the field.
Di Maria celebrates his goal with De Paul.
Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
on the game, bulga
Back on goal and under pressure, he made good control before putting the outside of the foot into the right pass of Julián Alvarez. A deep pass later Alexis MacAllister returned to his left for Di Maria, leaving him completely alone with the French defense, which had struggled badly in the first hour of the game.
In the second half, the Argentine dominance continued for some time, and it did not pass until the 68th minute to see the first French shot attempt, the intervention of the work of Randall Kolo Mwani in the 41st minute for his colleague Dembele. This effort revived the thirteen colours, which had struggled to move forward until then.
Mwani, again, later won a penalty kick in the 80th minute, which was converted by Kylian Mbappe, who immediately completed a brace (81) by scoring a wonderful ball from the entrance to the Argentine area. The turnaround was worthy of the greatest of occasions, and came after a rare loss of possession by Lionel Messi in midfield, and a tenacious Kingsley Coman.
Kylian Mbappe celebrates France’s goal in extra time.
Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
After the jubilation, the French attacks picked up pace and extended into overtime periods. However, in the 108th minute, Lionel Messi once again struck the hearts and minds of football fans by completing his brace on Lautaro Martinez’s return shot that French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris could not control.
Lionel Messi scored in overtime to give Argentina a 3-2 lead.
Photo: Getty Images/Julian Finney
Two minutes after the end of extra time, when the match seemed to break down, Mbappe saved a hand kick from the hands of Argentine defender Montiel, which awarded another penalty kick to the French prodigy. His second chance from 6 yards also fell to the back of the net, sending everyone into a penalty shootout.
Montiel put his hand into the Argentine penalty area, thus awarding a second penalty to MBappé.
Photo: Reuters/Lee Smith
In this exercise, the Argentines had the upper hand. Kingsley Coman’s effort was saved by Emiliano Martinez before seeing Aurelien Choameni miss, while the four Argentine shooters deceived the first Hugo Lloris.
At the end of the suspense, Argentina thus won their first World Cup final in 36 years, thus presenting the title of World Champion to Messi. At the age of 35, in his last match at the World Cup, the captain of Argentina scored two goals, in addition to scoring in the penalty shootout.
Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, which rewards the best player on the planet, the Argentine talisman completes his collection of titles by adding the World Champion award, the only 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 finals in one World Cup.
The tournament’s best player, Lionel Messi, accepts the World Cup.
Photo: dpa via getty Images/ODD ANDERSEN
This victory is also synonymous with a third star on the Argentine sky and its white shirt. The last triumph of the Albiceleste was in the World Cup finals in 1986, when Diego Maradona led his team to a 3-2 victory over West Germany.
For his part, Kylian Mbappe’s late hat-trick earned him the tournament’s top scorer and 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 has already scored 12 World Cup goals, equaling legend Pele to become the sixth top scorer in World Cup history. He now finds himself only 4 lengths behind Miroslav Klose, the record holder with 16 goals at 4 Worlds.
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