World Cup: Argentina beat France on penalties in remarkable final.
Lionel Messi has led Argentina to World Cup glory after beating France on penalties in one of the most thrilling climaxes in final history
FT: Argentina 3-3 France – Argentina win 4-2 on penalties
Two goals for Messi and hat-trick for France’s Mbappe; Di Maria with other Argentina goal
Argentina chasing first title since 1986; France aiming to become third side to win back-to-back World Cups
Argentina 3-3 France AET (4-2 on pens)
Argentina’s players are dancing in front of their fans. This is their moment.
Spare a thought for France, who were a shadow of themselves for 70 minutes but then came to life to help give us this game.
Kylian Mbappe doesn’t deserve to end on a losing side after becoming just the second player to score three times in a World Cup final, matching the effort of England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966!.
After 36 years, Argentina win first World Cup.
Argentina have won the World Cup for the third time after defeating France 4-2 (3-3 after extra time) in a penalty shootout on Sunday in Qatar.
The match ended 2-2 after 90 minutes, but Lionel Messi scored in the 108th minute to give Argentina a 3-2 lead, and Kylian Mbappe completed his hat-trick in the final two minutes of extra time.
This is Argentina’s third World Cup trophy in six final appearances, after defeating defending champions France to win the most prestigious prize in men’s football, with the legend scoring twice.
The last time Argentina won the World Cup was in 1978 and 1986, and they lost in the final three times. However, Messi has finally broken the curse in Qatar.
In a match dominated by attention on Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappé, Messi’s experience prevailed.
Mbappé scored twice within two minutes late in the second half to force extra time, before completing his World Cup Final hat-trick in extra time to force a penalty shootout.
Mbappé was only the second player in World Cup history, after Geoff Hurst in 1966, to score a hat-trick in the championship game. He won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer, but ultimately lost.
Messi finished the tournament with seven goals and a World Cup medal thanks to his two-goal performance.
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On their way to the final, Lionel Scaloni’s team quickly rebounded from their shocking 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in their opening group game, defeating Mexico 2-0 and Poland 2-0 to finish atop Group C.
A 2-1 victory over Australia in the round of 16, surviving a penalty shootout against the Netherlands, and defeating 2018 runner-up Croatia 3-0 to reach the final.
Argentina and Messi have had an extraordinary World Cup campaign thus far.
Messi has now scored 26 goals in major international tournaments for Argentina, including 13 World Cup goals and 13 Copa América goals, surpassing Ronaldo’s 25 goals to become the South American player with the most goals in the history of the two competitions.
