The Messi vs Mbappe battle for glory has been put to rest in a thrilling World Cup final.
Fans celebrating Argentina’s World Cup win in Sydney (left), Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi holding up the World Cup trophy (centre), and Messi shaking hands with internet celebrity chef ‘Salt Bae’ (right). Source: AAP, Instagram,
HIGHLIGHTS
- Argentina has won the 2022 FIFA World Cup after beating France on penalties.
- The win sparked wild celebrations in Argentina and in many countries across the globe.
- The match was a goalscoring battle between Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe.
Argentina has won the 2022 World Cup after a nail-biting match against France that ended in a penalty shoot-out.
The match at Qatar’s Lusail stadium ended in a 3-3 draw after extra time, but Argentina prevailed 4-2 on spot kicks.
No country outside Europe had won the tournament in 20 years, when Brazil defeated Germany in the 2002 tournament.
Argentina’s captain, Lionel Messi, 35, already had a storied career, thrilling fans with his dribbling skills and goals and winning a haul of club trophies in Europe as well as seven Ballons d’Or, an annual trophy awarded to the best player in the world.
But there was one achievement left to fill on his resume — winning a World Cup for his country.
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As the thrilling match took shape, it became a battle between the experience of Messi and the youth of French winger Kylian Mbappe, who at 23 was chasing his second successive World Cup final win.
Messi opened the scoring with a penalty before Argentina doubled their lead through winger Angel Di Maria.
The trophy looked headed to Argentina before Mbappe scored twice in two minutes late in the game to even the scores at 2-2 and send the match into extra time. Messi chimed in again with another goal to give Argentina the lead but late in extra time, Mbappe scored again to make it 3-3 and send the match to the penalty shoot-out.
Mbappe became the second player in history, after England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966, to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
Mbappe and Messi were equal at five goals each for the tournament heading into the final, and France’s Olivier Giroud on four, with all three players contending for the Golden Boot award for top goalscorer.
The French winger’s goals secured him the Golden Boot with eight goals. Messi was second with seven goals.
France’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring a goal during the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina. Source: AAP, SIPA USA / Fotoarena
Argentina’s 2022 World Cup final win is their first in 36 years.
They have now landed three titles in total (1978, 1986 and 2022), behind Brazil who have five, and Germany with four.
France has won the tournament twice, in 1998 and 2018.
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‘I can’t believe it’
Argentina supporters erupted with joy at World Cup match sites in Sydney and Melbourne after the South American nation’s win.
The game ended just before 5am in the eastern states as fans set off flares and embraced each other.
The celebrations continued through the morning as groups of Argentina fans swept through the lower Sydney CBD after leaving the live television site near the Opera House.
Sydney fans watch the World Cup final match between France and Argentina at the World Cup Live Site in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Monday morning. Source: AAP / Flavio Brancaleone
Messi’s Argentina wins the World Cup
19 Dec 2022, 6:51 am
Messi’s Argentina wins the World Cup
The streets of Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, were packed before and after the match.
“I can’t believe it! It was difficult, but we did it, thanks to Messi,” Santiago, 13, told news agency Reuters while celebrating the victory with his family in front of the Buenos Aires house that had belonged to late superstar Diego Maradona, who led the team in 1986.
That emotion was consistent within the stadium among the Argentina-heavy crowd.
Around 50,000 Argentinians travelled to this year’s World Cup.
Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez, who reportedly didn’t attend the final so as not to be a bad luck charm, congratulated his country’s players.
“Always together, always united,” he said.
“WE’RE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD. No more words. THANK YOU.”
Football fans in Bangladesh,
a country with a huge following of Argentina supporters
, erupted after the win.
Internet celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, better known as Salt Bae also celebrated with Argentina’s team, posting photos to Instagram of himself embracing players and even holding the World Cup trophy.
Gokce owns Nurs-Et, a chain of high-end steakhouses. One of his restaurants is based in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and he has previously posted pictures of himself posing with other football teams and officials during the tournament.
Migrant workers watch on
Migrant workers, many of whom helped build the infrastructure that has made the World Cup such a success, came in their thousands to watch the final on big screens in a specially built fan zone in Doha.
One was in the Asian Town Cricket Stadium, while a second, adjacent fan zone was next door.
The tournament, the first to be held in the Middle East, where other countries have also faced criticism over migrant workers’ rights, has been mired in controversy with some soccer stars and European officials criticising Qatar’s human rights record, including on labour.
The true death toll of migrant workers building World Cup infrastructure in Qatar is disputed and difficult to verify due to limited information provided by the Qatar government.
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Qatar has changed its labour laws to dismantle much of its “kafala” sponsorship system, absolving workers of the need to get the permission of the employer who sponsored their visa in order to change jobs or leave the country.
It has also set up an insurance fund to help migrants that have been cheated out of their wages.
A ‘completely insane’ match
Argentina’s head coach Lionel Scaloni described the match as “completely insane” and promised to “save a spot” for Messi in the nation’s 2026 World Cup squad.
The 35-year-old indicated in the build-up that Sunday would be his final appearance on the world stage, although he appeared to dial back on that when he spoke post-match.
“I wanted to close my career with this, I can no longer ask for anything else,” Messi said.
“But I love football and I want to continue living a few more games being world champion.”
Messi (centre) was presented with a black cloak known as a bisht. Source: Getty / Charlotte Wilson/Offside
Messi was seen wearing a black cloak as he lifted up the World Cup trophy, his team cheering alongside him.
The item of clothing, known as a bisht, was presented to him by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The traditional men’s cloak is usually worn on special occasions, like weddings or religious festivals such as Eid.
Coming so close to winning the World Cup again made the final defeat by Argentina all the more difficult to swallow for France’s coach Didier Deschamps.
“We came back from the brink, that’s what gives us so many regrets,” Deschamps, who guided France to the title in 2018 and won it as a player in 1998, said.
“If we’re 2-0 down and then we lose 3-0, it’s different. You say ‘bravo’ to Argentina and that’s it.
“I still congratulate them, they played a great game, with a bit of gamesmanship but we were expecting that and it does not take any merit from their victory.
‘Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez won the young player of the tournament, the award won by Mbappe four years ago.
Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez won the golden glove for best goalkeeper of the tournament, while Mbappe won the Golden Boot.
Messi won the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament.
