On Sunday, Lionel Messi scored twice against France in one of the greatest World Cup finals ever, and Argentina retained their composure to win in a penalty shootout in Qatar.
With a performance that will go down in World Cup history, Messi finally put the finishing touches on his record-breaking career by taking home the sport’s top honor. He scored a penalty in the first half and added another goal in extra time.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice in a thrilling game to help France rally from a 2-0 deficit and force extra time.
With his second goal of the game in extra time, Messi appeared to have decided the game, but Mbappe scored the only hat-trick in the World Cup final to draw the game at three and send it to penalties.
That World Cup winning moment.pic.twitter.com/a9y3fmF7jr — Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) December 19, 2022
That World Cup winning moment.pic.twitter.com/a9y3fmF7jr
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) December 19, 2022
Argentina won the shootout 4-2 thanks to Gonzalo Montiel’s successful penalty shot, but this was Messi’s chance to shine.
The 35-year-old eventually imitated Argentina legend Diego Maradona by leading his country to World Cup success for the first time since Maradona’s victory in Mexico City in 1986, albeit suffering a devastating defeat in the 2014 final against Germany. This was the 35-year-sixth old’s and last World Cup.
Thousands of Argentina supporters wearing blue and white shirts stood to applaud Messi as he declared over the stadium microphone that “we are champions of the world!”
