After 1,617 days, the world has a new champion. Argentina isn’t new to the title, but Lionel Messi is, having guided the Albiceleste to the prestigious trophy in his last appearance at the World Cup. That 4:2 on penalties against France in Lusail, Qatar produced the best final in the history of the competition and the Argentinean beat Kylian Mbappé’s hat-trick (the tournament’s top scorer) with two goals.

The Albiceleste were by far the best team on the pitch, perhaps the only team on the pitch for 70 minutes, with the French looking disorganized and able to not only generate energy in the opposition area but also shoot easily.

Didier Deschamps’ two substitutions in the 41st minute paint the picture of the outgoing world champion finding his pulse in the final minutes and sending the game into overtime with two goals from Mbappe. It was wide open there, both teams wasting big chances and Messi and Mbappe again found the back of the net and sent the game to penalties. Both scored there, unlike Kingsley Coman (saved by Emiliano Martinez) and Aurélien Tsoumaeni (out), with the trophy landing in Argentina.

Messi also wrote his name in this pantheon, with a record streak and the third trophy in his country’s history, his first, in the 26th and final game of his World Cup career.

Lionel Scaloni made a forced substitution, with Nicolas Tagliafiko taking the place of Marcos Acuña on the left of defense and Angel Di Maria in front of him. That’s because Rodrigo de Paul played on the right flank in Albiceleste’s 4-4-2 to recall the runs of Kylian Mbappe, who played on the left flank in Didier Deschamps’ 4-2-3-1 , with Olivier Giroud in the lead and Antoine Griezmann behind him.

The original plan, which worked best in the opening minutes, was that of Argentina, who played more time in the opponent’s field. A few unfortunate endgames heralded what was to come, with Di Maria constantly running together and missing a good chance in the 17th minute. Four minutes later he was more substantial. He passed Ousmane Dembele from the left, the French winger… touched him, Di Maria fell to the ground and Simon Marciniak missed a penalty. Messi made it with VAR’s blessing and scored to make it 1-0.

The Argentine was already the player with the most games at the institution, most minutes and first-scorer in four knockout rounds (and five different ones). But Argentina had no reason to stop as long as they saw that the French couldn’t find Giroud and Dembele and Mbappe didn’t make any moves with the ball and if they got it at their feet they lost it immediately.

The Argentines’ tough and sometimes (especially out of phase) unsportsmanlike play went unnoticed by the referee but had an impact on the French and reflected the different mentality on the pitch. The quality showed in the 36th minute when Alexis McAllister countered a series of triangles and found Di Maria on the left to make it 2-0.

France’s response was again non-existent, but neither was Didier Deschamps’. Giroud and Dembele were sacrificed for Marcus Thuram and Radal Kolo Mouani, with the formation changing to a 4-1-4-1 and Adrien Rabiot occupying the defence. Nothing changed in the four minutes of added time and seven minutes of added time as Argentina still had the upper hand and France lacked shots or energy in the opposing area.

The expected voices in the dressing room of France were accompanied by … idleness of the “blues”. Argentina had the upper hand and in the first minutes of the 2nd half they locked the French back in their field and still trying to ‘drill’ for the next goal. Julián Alvarez and Messi tested their defensive reflexes twice and Hugo Lloris was in fine form.

The field’s previous MVP, Di Maria, came off in the 64th minute, Scaloni bringing Acunia behind him as a left midfielder with a stopper and clear defensive focus. France’s first final came in the 68th minute with a poor header from Kolo Mouani, while two minutes later Mbappe also scored. France began to reinforce and shut down Argentina and then Deschamps made two more odd changes, with Eduardo Camavinga in the role of left-back for Theo Hernandez and Kingsley Coman for (the absent) Antoine Griezmann.

The changes seemed absurd, but the time for justification was not long in coming. Nicolas Otamendi brought down Kolo Mouani in the penalty area in the 79th minute and Mbappe (minorly) punched Emiliano Martines to reduce the goal. The scene was the same after 97 seconds and the French striker equalized to make it 2-2 with a dream goal.

Deschamps’ plan worked perfectly and Mbappe and Coman seemed to do whatever they wanted with the shocked Argentina defence. Their speed and dribbling bothered them, with Adrien Rabiot having a chance to perfect the surprise. Martinez said ‘no’ to him, as did Lloris to a Messi volley at the end of injury time.

Kamavinga’s presence on the side where Messi played the most led to an unusual… miss for Argentina after the young and fresh Real Madrid player came on with panache. France’s momentum faltered and the game was fairly uneventful, but lacked pace due to substitutions.

Lautaro Martinez was one of them in the 103rd minute, with the Inter striker missing his national team’s two biggest chances in 105 minutes. The videos… Gonzalo Higuain appeared in Lusail, but Messi managed to banish them from the atmosphere. First he had a shot that was parried by Lloris and in the 108th minute, in a period when Martines failed to score again, he rebounded from close range to make it 3-2.

However, nothing was over as long as Mbappe was on the pitch of a game. The Parisian superstar unleashed a thunderbolt, Gonzalo Montiel tried to stop him with a tackle but he managed it with his hand and from the penalty spot the 23-year-old forward scored a hat-trick and took the game to penalties (although Martinez managed to take it out on the end of missing another opportunity).

There the two superstars performed first and then it was time for their… assistants. Coman was beaten by Martinez, Paulo Dybala made it 2-1 and Aurelien Chouameny missed. Leandro Paredes scored for Argentina, Kolo Mouani scored the second for France and Montiel’s handball to make it 3-3 made up for it with an even more historic penalty, crowning Argentina for the third time in history and the first since the Diego Maradona saga in 1986 to the world champion.

The evolution of penalties

• Mbappe scored again from the penalty spot
• Lloris took a step to the left, Messi shot deep and just wide and it was 1-1
• Coman shoots hard, Martines drops to the left and saves!
• Dybala shoots in the center to make it 2-1 for Argentina
• Tswameni kicked it out!
• Paredes executes and makes it 3-1
• Strength and middle of Kolos Mouani and 3-2
• Montiel crowns Argentina world champions

ARGENTINA: E. Martinez, Molina (91′ Montiel), Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico (120_1′ Dybala), Di Maria (64′ Acuña), De Paul (102′ Paredes), Fernandes, McAllister, Messi, Alvarez (102′ La . Martines)

FRANCE: Lloris, Kouté (120+1′ Disassi), Varane, Upamecano, T. Hernandez (71′ Kamavinga), Tswameni, Rabiot (96′ Fofana), Dembele (41′ Kolo Muani), Griezmann (71′ Coman), Mbappe , Giroud (41′ Turam)

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