It took 17 years, five tournaments, one lost final and a lifetime of debate, but Lionel Messi is finally a World Cup winner. He matches Diego and beats Cristiano all in one.
The moment Gonzalo Montiel sliced in the winning penalty to beat France 4-2 in the shootout, Messi sank to his knees near the centre-circle. Tellingly, his team-mates flocked to the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, not the match-winner, conscious of the man who had got them over the line with all but the last kick.
Messi not only scored twice – the first a penalty, the second a scramble over the line – but led Argentina throughout, registering a goal in every knockout round. The Paris Saint-Germain forward is the first man to achieve that feat, but the one accolade that really matters is the golden one he clutched onto atop the podium long after the final whistle.
It seemed the perfect finale to his Argentina career, one which has taken in numerous highs but also plenty of lows. Aside from tasting defeat to Germany in 2014, he briefly retired from international football in 2016 after losing the Copa America final to Chile on penalties.
It took him five years to avenge that by winning the competition in 2021 and now he has done the same with the World Cup – but he insisted after the game that this is not the end, even now he has ticked the final box.
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“No, I’m not going to retire from the national team,” Messi said in an interview with Argentine TV channel TyC Sports.
“I want to keep playing as World Cup champions in the Argentina shirt.”
Before kick-off, his first ever interview had been unearthed in which he said it was his “dream to play for Argentina”. That is set to continue even now he has reached his pinnacle.
“It’s just crazy that it became a reality this way,” Messi added. “I craved for this so much. I knew God would bring this gift to me. I had the feeling that this [World Cup] was the one.”
It ended with his 42nd trophy and the unusual sight of the 35-year-old draped in a bisht, a traditional Arabic cloak next to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Messi scored his 792nd and 793rd goals over the course of the final, but also set the tone for his team-mates by converting the first penalty in the shootout. Kylian Mbappe did the same, France’s hat-trick hero cementing his status as perhaps the most unfortunate man to lose a World Cup final. The Golden Boot will not be much of a consolation.
For Mbappe, at least there will be plenty more World Cups. This was almost certainly Messi’s last, but if he is to be believed, there is life in his Argentina career yet.
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