‘No more debate, he’s the goat’ – Twitter hails Lionel Messi after Argentina beat France in final to win the FIFA World Cup 2022
Argentina beat France in the final to lift their third FIFA World Cup.
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Dec 19, 2022 1:33 pm
Lionel Messi (Source: Twitter)
The final of the FIFA World Cup 2022 turned out to be an exhilarating affair as both France and Argentina fought in a neck-to-neck battle for the ultimate football prize. In an action-packed match that went to the penalties, Argentina emerged victorious as Lionel Messi achieved his dream of lifting the World Cup trophy in his final appearance in the mega tournament.
However, the road to the trophy wasn’t so easy as after dominating the 78 minutes of the match France clawed their way back into the game courtesy of a penalty kick by Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe only took 97 more seconds to score the equalizer in the 81st minute as he volleyed the ball into the bottom right corner through Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Earlier, Lionel Messi gave Argentina the lead in the big game with his signature penalty kick in the 23rd minute. Argentina further stamped their authority on France with Angel Di Maria scoring in the 36th minute to give his team a 2-0 lead against the defending champions.
France looked sluggish in the first half becoming the first team in the history of the FIFA World Cup to not have a shot at the box in the first half of the final. However, when the game looked all over for France in the 79th minute, Kylian Mbappe brought his team back into the game in mere two minutes to give a heart attack to Argentine fans.
Kylian Mbappe scored a hattrick in the thrilling finale
With the game tied 2-2, it moved towards the extra-time. Messi once again rose to the occasion and scored in the 108th minute to take his team to a lead again and it looked like he had scored the match-winner. However, Kylian Mbappe was in no mood to settle down as he once again scored an equalizer with another penalty following a Gonzalo Montiel handball.
The goal was Mbappe’s eighth in the 2022 World Cup which also meant he became just the second man ever to score a hat trick in a World Cup final and beat Messi’s tally of 7 goals to claim tournament’s Golden Boot award.
With the game once again tied on 3-3 after extra time, it moved to the penalty shootout. Mbappe and Messi converted the two opening penalties, but Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved the next two France efforts from Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni before Montiel stepped up and converted to help Argentina to a 4-2 win on penalties.
Argentina won the World Cup after 36 years and for the third time in their history. Messi finally had his hands on the World Cup trophy after missing out in 2014 when Argentina lost to Germany in the final. Meanwhile, Twitter was abuzz with reactions hailing Lionel Messi after Argetina’s historic victory. Here are some of the best Tweets:
History maker! Lionel Messi becomes first player ever to win World Cup Player of the Tournament TWICE as the Argentina captain guides his team to glory in Qatar with SEVEN goals https://t.co/jjuyhQGNTv (From Phoenix APP) pic.twitter.com/WslFJPg1xg
Almost spent 1/2 hour discussing about last night’s epic match with office colleagues. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the game! What fun! #LionelMessi𓃵#FIFAWorldCup
