It has been a riveting 29 days of non-stop footballing action and 64 matches later, we have the winner of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the end, it is Argentina and Lionel Messi who leave Qatar with the trophy in what has been a truly remarkable achievement.
Pre-tournament favourites along with Brazil, Argentina have defied all odds to make sure they live up to the hype and lift the World Cup that has eluded them for so long. It is rather fitting that they saved their best performance for the final.
All this means that France were unable to defend their crown and will have to settle for a second-place finish. Didier Deschamps’ men got outclassed by Lionel Scaloni’s side on Sunday in the first half.
The second half also looked fairly comfortable for Argentina for about until the 80th minute when Nicolas Otamendi conceded a penalty. It was then that Kylian Mbappe decided to take matters into his own hands, changing the game in a matter of 90 seconds, bringing France level 2-2.
The drama was not done yet. It had to be Lionel Messi to give Argentina the lead in extra time. Following a great team move and a strike from Lautaro Martinez, Messi pounced on the rebound and managed to turn it over the line despite a last-ditch clearance attempt from Jules Kounde.
Argentina still could not hold on to the lead as they conceded yet another penalty due to a handball from Gonzalo Montiel. Kylian Mbappe did not make a mistake from the spot yet again to pull France back 3-3 and take the game into penalties.
Argentina managed to hold their nerve in the penalty shootout and scored all their four penalties with France missing two of theirs to give Lionel Messi the trophy he deserves.
Messi’s quest for a World Cup trophy has finally been realised in what is his last-ever match in this tournament. We at Barca Universal take a look at how the Barcelona players and Lionel Messi fared in the final
Ousmane Dembele (vs Argentina):
France had a horrendous first half in the game and Ousmane Dembele was arguably the worst player for Les Bleus. He conceded the penalty that gave Argentina the lead and was hooked off in the 40th minute. The Barcelona man will want to forget this performance as soon as he can.
Jules Kounde (vs Argentina):
Kounde really struggled in the first half against a motivated Angel Di Maria. However, he got much more comfortable in the second half especially after Di Maria was taken off. Just like the rest of the France team, Kounde grew into the game. It was refreshing to see him back to his composed self soon.
Lionel Messi (vs France):
It seemed like it would be Messi’s World Cup. It seemed like that for 70-odd minutes before Kylian Mbappe had other plans. Messi was majestic in both the goals that Argentina scored in the first half.
He opened the scoring for the champions from the penalty spot which Di Maria won initially and had a silky touch in the build-up to the second goal which the former converted exceptionally.
Ironically, it was Messi who lost the ball to Coman during Mbappe’s second goal which turned the game on its head. The former Barcelona captain had a sensational strike on goal in the dying moments that was saved by Lloris, but beat the Frenchman in extra-time.
Messi then did not make a mistake from the spot, in the penalty shootout scoring from the spot to give Argentina the perfect start.