Argentina defeated defending champion France on penalty kicks to win a thrilling World Cup final on Sunday in Lusail, Qatar.
It is the first championship for Argentina since 1986 and third overall. It also marks a crowning achievement in the career of superstar Lionel Messi.
Messi twice gave Argentina the lead, at 1-0 on a 23rd-minute penalty and 3-2 in the 108th minute.
The outcome brought heartbreak for French star Kylian Mbappe, who joined England’s Geoff Hurst (1966) as the only players with a hat trick in a World Cup final. Mbappe scored from the spot in the 80th minute, leveled the match 97 seconds later and set up the shootout with his third goal on a penalty in the 118th minute.
Continuing their heroics, Mbappe opened the penalty shootout with a successful conversion before Messi answered for Argentina.
As France missed its next two attempts against goaltender Emiliano Martinez, Argentina surged to the decisive 4-2 finish with penalty kicks from Paulo Dybala, Leandro Paredes and Gonzalo Montiel.
Mbappe, 23, secure the golden boot by scoring his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the tournament, the first World Cup ever played in the Middle East.
Messi, 35, became the first man in World Cup history to score goals in the group stage, Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.
–Field Level Media
