In what was regarded as the best-ever World Cup final, Argentina were crowned champions following a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over France in an absolute thriller.
Argentina started like a house on fire when they took a 2-0 first-half lead at the break thanks to a Leo Messi penalty and an Angel Di Maria goal.
France looked dead and buried until Kylian Mbappe took matters into his own hands and capitalized on sloppy Argentine defence to score a quick brace that sent a match to extra time. His first came in the 81st minute from a penalty spot while his second came a minute later from a half-volley to give the French president in the stands something to celebrate.
2 goals in 2 mins, mbappe is CRAZY pic.twitter.com/WLrlxMTcio
— sami (@scorpiexo) December 18, 2022
It suddenly became a Mbappe-Messi Golden Boot affair, as the two PSG men were tied on five goals apiece coming into the final. At the end of 90 minutes, Mbappe was already on seven goals, Messi on six, and the Argentine didn’t look discouraged at all. Messi completed his brace in the 108th minute but was cancelled 10 minutes later and two minutes from time by the 23-year-old who completed his hat-trick.
It was not the first high-scoring final in the history of the competition. In 1930 at the first-ever World Cup final, Argentina lost by four goals to two against Uruguay.
In 1938, the World saw another high scoring final as the Italians defeated Hungary 4-2 after 90 minutes. In 1958, Brazil defeated Sweden 5-2 and started dominating world football. In the 1966 final between West Germany and hosts, England, Englishman Geoff Hurst scored the first-ever hat-trick in the final to give the English their only World Cup, winning 4-2 in the end.
In Russia 2018, the French won the World Cup in yet another six-goal thriller – defeating Croatia by four goals to two. The 2022 World Cup also produced six goals, this time, three apiece.
Mbappe became the first player to score in successive World Cup finals and only the second player to score a World Cup final hat-trick. A historic night for the 23-year-old who had to lead from the front in the absence of Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and Nkunku
◾ WC winner at 19
— ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) December 19, 2022
◾ WC finalist at 23
◾ Golden Boot winner
◾ A hat-trick in a WC final
◾ 1st man to score 7+ goals at a single WC since Ronaldo in 2002
◾ The most goals by a 23-year-old or younger in a single WC
Let's all take a moment to appreciate Kylian Mbappé 👏 pic.twitter.com/Wp8wPvGNMo
The victory for Argentina gave Leo Messi the most decorated Argentine winning all major trophies available at his disposal.
LIONEL MESSI HAS COMPLETED FOOTBALL 🐐 pic.twitter.com/IvDeNtckee
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 18, 2022
Messi has won Copa America and now World Cup with Argentina, seven Ballon d’Ors, Champions League and Club World Cup with Barcelona. He was also named player of the tournament in Qatar 2022.
Could this mean Messi has officially settled the ‘GOAT’ debate?
