Lionel Messi ended his successful career with a World Cup victory on Sunday as Argentina defeated France in a thrilling final. The match ended in a 3-3 draw after extra time, with Argentina ultimately winning 4-2 in the penalty shootout. Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick for France.
Gonzalo Montiel scored the decisive penalty kick, helping Argentina secure their third World Cup victory and preventing France from becoming the first team in 60 years to successfully defend their title.
In an exciting and memorable match, Messi and Mbappé lived up to their reputation as top players, with Messi scoring two goals and Mbappé becoming the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. Messi scored a penalty kick to give Argentina the lead in the first half, and Angel Di Maria doubled the lead with a counter-attack goal in the 36th minute. However, Mbappé breathed new life into the French team by scoring a penalty kick with 10 minutes left in the match and then equalizing just a minute later to force extra time.
Messi scored again in the 109th minute to seemingly give Argentina the win, but Mbappe responded with a penalty kick to tie the game at 3-3 and force a penalty shootout. In the shootout, both Messi and Mbappe scored, but Coman’s kick for France was saved and Tchouameni missed the target, leading to Argentina winning their first World Cup title since 1986 and France suffering their second final loss on penalties in five World Cups, following their defeat to Italy in 2006.
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