Lionel Messi is finally the winner of his dream the World Cup. The Albiceleste has ended its 36-year wait for the World Cup trophy. In an absolute classic, Argentina beat France 4–2 on penalties, when drew 3–3 after extra time.
Argentina vs France FIFA World cup Final 2022 : Lionel Messi Won his Dream World Cup Trophy
It was an absolutely watchable battle between two teams who gave it their all on the football pitch. Argentina were clearly the more fluid side in the first half, taking a two-goal lead in the 36th minute, thanks to a Messi penalty and an Angel Di Maria strike. But France stormed back into the contest, scoring twice through Kylian Mbappe before the penalty spot.
Messi scored again in the 108th minute, only for Mbappe to score again from the penalty spot in the 118th minute to make it 3–3.
The match went to penalties and ended 4–2 in favor of Argentina.
Argentina and Messi Records
The moment he’s dreamed about 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xGq3thFQvI
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 18, 2022
1. Albiceleste has ended its 36-year wait for a World Cup title. They last won the World Cup in 1986.
2. Lionel Messi won his first World Cup title and followed Argentina’s other two World Cup winning captains – Daniel Passarella (1978) and Diego Maradona (1986).
3. Argentina became only the fourth team to win three or more World Cup titles. The all-time record is still held by Brazil, with 5 titles, followed closely by Germany and Italy with 4 and 4 respectively.
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Argentina add their third #FIFAWorldCup title! 🏆
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 18, 2022
4. Europe’s title reign finally comes to an end. Argentina became the first South American team to win the title since Brazil in 2002. The previous four editions of the World Cup were won by European teams (2006 – Italy; 2010 – Spain; 2014 – Germany and 2018 – France).
5. Argentina’s win-loss record in World Cup finals is now 3:3. Wins in 1978, 1986 and 2022 and losses in 1930, 1990 and 2014 finals
ALSO CHECK : Most Man of The Match Awards in FIFA World Cup 2022
6. Lionel Messi has ended his World Cup career with the biggest win and biggest trophy of his life. He was also named Player of the Tournament and won the Golden Ball.
🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷#FIFAWorldCup | #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/2FPSlwF2YM
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 18, 2022
7. Argentina became the first South American team since Brazil in 2002 to beat European opposition in a World Cup final. Brazil beat Germany 2–0 in the 2002 final.
8. Lionel Messi has now played in the most 26 World Cups. He defeated Luther Matthaus of Germany while playing the final in Qatar.
9. Messi has also become the first player to win the World Cup Golden Ball twice since it was first awarded in the 1982 edition in Spain, which was won by Italian Paolo Rossi. Messi finished the 2022 edition with 7 goals, 1 behind Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe.
10. Messi has scored the most goals in a single edition of the World Cup with 7 goals. He previously scored five goals in the 2014 edition in Brazil where Argentina finished runners-up against Germany.
11. Messi scored a brace in the final vs France and went past Pele in the list of top goalscorers at the World Cup. In the process, Messi has equaled France’s Just Fontaine on 13 World Cup goals. Germany’s Miroslav Klose (16 goals) is the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cups, followed by Brazil’s Ronaldo Nazario (15 goals) and Germany’s Jared Müller (14 goals).
12. France has finished runners-up for only the second time in World Cup history. They had previously finished second in the 2006 edition when they lost 3–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw against Italy in the final.
