Football
Lionel Messi Wins His First World Cup as Argentina Beats France on Penalties
by privatebet.com - 2022/12/19
Lionel Messi spent his entire career chasing the World Cup trophy, and he finally got ahold of it in Qatar. The football legend led Argentina to an epic victory against France in one of the greatest World Cup finals of all time, which ended with a dramatic penalty shootout. Argentina was on top of their game since the very first minute, and easily secured a 2-0 lead in the first half, thanks to Messi and Angel di Maria. It seemed like they’ll cruise to an easy win, but their hopes were shattered 80 minutes into the game when Kylian Mbappe scored two goals in just 97 seconds. The game eventually entered extra time, and Messi and Mbappe both scored one more goal for their side, forcing a 3-3 draw and a penalty shootout. Despite Mbappe’s hat-trick – the first one in the World Cup final since 1966 – Argentina won 4–2 on penalties, securing their first World Cup title since 1986 and third overall. Argentina captain Messi won the Golden Ball award for the best player of the tournament, and this victory carried a lot of weight for the Paris Saint-Germain player. He previously announced this will be his last World Cup, but he intends to keep playing for Argentina. "I was lucky to have achieved everything in this career, and this one that was missing is here… I wanted to close my career with this. I can no longer ask for anything else, thank God, he gave me everything,” said Messi. The 2022 FIFA World Cup took place between November 20 and December 18 in Qatar. The rest of the individual awards were picked up by France's Kylian Mbappe (Golden Boot for best scorer) and Argentina’s Emiliano Martínez (Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper) and Enzo Fernández (FIFA Young Player Award).