- World Cup. Argentina vs France: As it happened
- World Cup. Was the decision to award Argentina a penalty correct?
The debates are over, if they eve existed to begin with. Lionel Messi is champion of the world with Argentina as he scored twice to help his side to a historic win over France on penalties after a crazy game which saw six goals cored in 120 manic minutes.
Messi and Kylian Mbappe went blow for blow throughout, with the Frenchman scoring a hat-trick and still ending up as a loser on the day. He, though, was excellent after a quiet hour and looked like he might just win it for France more than once.
Argentina were on the front foot from the very first whistle, and early on it looked as though France had no answer for Messi and co., with the Paris Saint-Germain star and his teammates dictating things. Half-chances fell their way, but Hugo Lloris went relatively untroubled.
Then Angel Di Maria - heavily involved - was fouled by Ousmane Dembele. The Juventus man beat the Barcelona winger and drove into the box, only to be brought down from behind. Messi stepped up and, of course, he converted by sending Lloris the wrong way. With his goal, he became he first player to score in the round of 16, the quarter-final, the semi-final and the final of a World Cup.
The second goal was all about the team. Messi was involved early with a clever flick around the corner, the Albiceleste broke and Alexis Mac Allister played into Di Maria to finish past Lloris. It seemed like the party was never going to stop.
A much-needed break
France needed half-time to come and Didier Deschamps even made two changes in the first half, dragging both Olivier Giroud and Dembele.
For much of the second half, though, Argentina remained on top. Without having that many clear-cut chances, they were the better side and France looked a beaten team. But brilliant players don't need much to turn things in their favour, and Mbappe went from having done nothing to having two goals in a two-minute spell. He first converted a penalty that was foolishly conceded by Nicolas Otamendi, and he then rifled in a sublime volley to level the scores.
From there, the momentum was fully with France and it was all about getting to extra time for Argentina. They got there, but Messi was close to winning it in 90 minutes as his long-range rocket was saved.
Extra time in the World Cup final
Things went wild in the added 30 minutes, and Messi looked to have won the game when he bundled a ball just over the line from close range.
But, again, it wasn't to be. France were awarded another penalty as a hand blocked an Mbappe strike, and the PSG star converted his second penalty of the game to level.
Emiliano Martinez then made a phenomenal save in the last seconds to deny Kolo Muani, and Lautaro Martinez missed a huge header seconds later at the other end.
Penalties
Emi Martinez is a penalty expert, and so it proved again on Sunday. He saved one of France's spot kicks and they missed another, with Messi, Dybala, Paredes and Montiel converting for Argentina.