Argentina are World Cup winners for the third time, with Lionel Messi inspiring the Copa America champions to glory, following a penalty shootout win at the end of an incredible final against France in Qatar on Sunday.
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Kylian Mbappe became only the second player to score a World Cup final hat trick, eclipsing Messi’s two strikes in the match, but despite his goals helping France to a 3-3 result after extra time, shootout misses by Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni meant Argentina celebrated victory in Lusail.
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Rapid reaction
1. Messi crowns incredible career with World Cup win
Lionel Messi’s incredible career is now complete. The Argentina captain has finally added a World Cup winners’ medal to all of the Champions Leagues, domestic championships and cups and the Copa America he won with Argentina in 2021.
And he did in in style. Two goals in a dramatic final, plus a successful penalty in the shootout, mean that Messi did everything possible to deliver long-awaited glory for Argentina. He also won the Golden Ball award as the best player of the tournament.
Will it end the GOAT debate? Probably not. There will always be those who favour Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Pele over the 35-year-old, but now that he has a World Cup win on his list of honours, you can bet that Messi won’t care in the slightest about the endless debate over who really is the greatest of all time.
But the most important thing for Messi is that nobody can ever point to the one big trophy missing from his career. He has not only now lifted it, he drove and inspired Argentina to success, just as Maradona did in Mexico in 1986.
Qatar 2022 has been Messi’s tournament. He has scored in every game bar one — the group stage win against Poland when he had a penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny — and he has risen to the occasion every time Argentina has needed him to make a difference.
Big goals against Mexico and Australia, amazing assists for Nahuel Molina and Julian Alvarez against Netherlands and Croatia respectively and, in the final against France, he set Argentina on the way to victory by scoring a first-half penalty.
It has been the perfect tournament for Messi in every sense. The perfect embellishment to an unrivalled career.
