A Perfect Ending for Lionel Messi and Argentina after 8 years!
In the 2014 World Cup, Argentina lost to Germany in overtime and could only finish second. After waiting for 8 years, the 35-year-old Lionel Messi performed his last game of the World Cup and finally lifted the long-awaited Hercules Cup as he wished in 2022. In this championship game, Argentina faced France, which was seeking to defend the title. After leading by 2 points in the first half, it was tied, and it was still difficult to decide the outcome for the rest of the game. It was not until entering the knockout match that they defeated their opponents 4-2 and received first place in team history. This is Argentina’s 3rd triumph in the World Cup Championship.
In the first half of the championship game, Argentina relied on Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María to score successively, taking a 2-point lead into the second half. In the second half, Kylian Mbappe scored 2 goals in a row within 90 seconds, which not only helped France tie the score, but also brought the game into a playoff, the fourth time since the 21st century that they entered the playoff final. In the overtime, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe scored a goal each making the third knockout final in history with 3-3. In the end, the Argentine players steadily scored 4 goals, while France missed the 2nd and 3rd points, and Argentina reached the top of the World Cup in Qatar with 4-2.
Although Mbappe performed a hat-trick and single-handedly carried the French team into the knockout match, he still lost to Messi’s performance of smashing multiple World Cup records. Messi not only became the Argentine player with the most goals in the history of the World Cup, but also the first player to score goals in every round, the player with the most playing time in history, the player with the most appearances in history, and the only player in history to win the World Cup Golden Ball Award twice, the oldest record of 7 goals in a single session in history. This draws a perfect ending to this football legend’s last game of the World Cup.