Argentina beat France on penalties to win World Cup after stunning final

Shafaq News / It was a consecration, the spiritual overtones entirely appropriate. Lionel Messi not only emulated the deity of Argentinian football, Diego Maradona, by leading the nation to World Cup glory, he finally plugged the burning gap on his CV, winning the one trophy that has eluded him – at the fifth time of asking, surely the last time. In the process, he gilded his claim to being recognised as the greatest player of all time.

When it was over – after the most outlandish of Kylian Mbappé‑inspired France comebacks, the defending champions punching back from the brink not once but twice – when Gonzalo Montiel had dispatched the winning penalty, Messi sank to his knees in the centre circle, engulfed by his teammates.

It will go down as an all-time classic, perhaps the finest World Cup final of them all, one of the greatest games in history. In so many ways, it was Messi’s game, it was destined to be his game in the end and yet how France fought.

It looked over for them as Argentina led 2-0 thanks to a Messi penalty and a goal from Ángel Di María. But Mbappé hauled France back with two goals inside 97 seconds towards the end of normal time, the France craque coming alive in electric style.

And that, frankly, was the prompt for the punches to really start landing.

Messi made it 3-2 in extra-time, Mbappé equalised with a second penalty to complete a hat-trick and in the Golden Boot. And when it came down to the acid test of nerve, it was Emiliano Martínez, the Argentina goalkeeper, who saved from Kingsley Coman and watched Aurélien Tchouaméni miss.

Argentina have a third world title. It was the wildest of rides.

(The Guardian)