Status: 12/18/2022 7:29 p.m
Argentina won the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Superstar Messi’s team beat defending champions France 4-2 on penalties in a hard-fought final. It was a dream come true for Messi.
Superstar Lionel Messi finally led his Argentina to the long-awaited World Cup triumph and brutally tore defending champions France from all their dreams. The Albiceleste, with their outstanding leader once more, won the highly dramatic final of the controversial Qatar finals 4-2 on penalties. 36 years following the great Diego Maradona won the title, Messi earned the greatest football honor for his home country in the fifth attempt, where the celebrations were ecstatic.
In front of 88,966 spectators at the Lusail Stadium, the long-disappointing Équipe Tricolore squandered a historic chance to lift the Golden Cup for the second time in a row like Brazil did in 1962. The fact that France was even able to save itself in extra time was thanks to the 2018 world champion to his superstar Kylian Mbappé. The 23-year-old hadn’t done much for a long time either – until his converted penalty kick in the 80th minute and the fantastic side kick (81st) to make it 2-2 following regular time. And in extra time it was Mpappé who saved France with the goal to make it 3: 3 with a hand penalty (118th) in a penalty shootout.
Messi scored three goals
The six-time world footballer Messi had previously scored with a penalty kick (23rd) to make it 1-0, in extra time (109th) followed his 13th World Cup goal, with which Brazil’s football icon Pelé (12) surpassed. The strong Ángel Di María (36th) had made it 2-0 in regular time before the break. In the penalty shoot-out, Messi and Mbappé were the first to score on their team.
Messi also surpassed a record set by Lothar Matthäus in the game: he is now the sole World Cup record player. The 35-year-old played in the final for the 26th time at a World Cup – more often than anyone before him. Former German international Matthäus had previously held the record with 25 appearances for a long time.
France’s captain set a new record
France’s captain Hugo Lloris also made a special achievement: he is now the sole record goalkeeper at the World Cup. The 35-year-old Frenchman thus displaced the German national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had previously held the record together with Lloris. Neuer has a total of 19 appearances at world championships.
With the final – perfectly planned for the national holiday – the Emirate of Qatar got exactly what it had been working towards since the World Cup was awarded twelve years ago: a brilliant final, despite the loud criticism of human rights violations and the exploitation of foreign workers. Germany in particular had commented on this. The spectacle is said to have cost more than 200 billion euros.
