It has been 2 years and the image of Lionel Messi lifting up the World Cup Trophy for Argentina on this day in 2022, still seems like it happened just yesterday. With the Argentine superstar saying that he was still unsure of participating in the event when it comes to the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026, the photo of him with the World Cup in Qatar might be the last we see of Messi in this stage.
On December 18, 2022, the fairytale wrote itself when Messi’s Argentina faced off against a resilient France led by an unstoppable Kylian Mbappe came face to face in football’s greatest clash in the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
After the dust had settled, Argentina had lifted their 3rd World Cup crown as goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved crucial spot kicks as Messi finally exorcised the demons of the 2014 World Cup final as La Selección defeated France 4-2 on penalties.
In the match, dubbed as the greatest final in the history of the World Cup, Messi and Mbappe both scored in Extra Time, the former in the 108th minute and the latter in the 118th minute, as France completed another comeback to tie the match 3-3 as the game went to penalties. France had come back from the dead as Mbappe scored twice, once from a penalty and once from open play as the Les Blues held Argentina 2-2 at the end of regulation time. Before the Mbappe masterclass in the 2nd half, Messi and Angel Di Maria had opened the scoring for Argentina.
Messi ended the tournament with 13 goals in FIFA World Cups and was also the first player to score in the group stage and every round of the knockout stage in a single edition of the tournament.
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