Lionel Messi has finally won a World Cup, as he and Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout to win the 2022 World Cup title.
He waved to the supporters in blue and white, smiling like a child before the Argentine staff and his teammates came over to hug him, tears in their eyes.
For a moment, there was a question as to whether it had crossed the line. Then there was a question as to whether Martínez was offside. When the goal was agonizingly confirmed, Argentina given a 3-2 lead after a stunning collapse sent the game to extra time, Messi smiled like a little kid. For 16 years with Argentina’s national team, Messi has fallen short again and again and again. He was reduced to living in the shadow of Diego Maradona, even as Maradona himself only got Messi as far as the quarterfinals in South Africa 2010. He suffered what looked like personal traumas at the Maracanã in the 2014 final, and in the 2016 Copa America final against Chile, briefly retiring from the national team after the latter.
Mbappé thumped a penalty into the left corner, beating Emiliano Martinez there to cut Argentina’s lead to 2-1. Just a minute later, Lusail Stadium came alive as Mbappé scored again, volleying a ball from Marcus Thuram into the goal and stunning the Argentinian cohort into silence.
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