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Lionel Messi winning World Cup (Source - Twitter)
On this day, a year back in 2022 the greatest ever final of the FIFA World Cup 2022 took place where Lionel Messi's Argentina defeated France in the penalty shootout to win the World Cup for the third time in history after 36 years. The La Albiceleste won it after 1986. Messi who is arguably the greatest player on the planet to play football won everything except the World Cup and that is why he was often trolled by the fans for not winning football's most coveted trophy.
Argentinas' campaign in the major tournament did not start as planned as the team lost their first game against Saudi Arabia as the underdogs ended their 34-match streak of without a loss. In the second game against Mexico after facing severe backlashes from the fans the Argentina captain stepped up on the occasion scoring and assisting a goal and keeping the hopes alive for their knockout round. They topped the group after beating Poland in the last game.
In the knockout stages, they faced Australia in the RO16 where they beat them 2-1, LM10 again scoring in his 1000th career match. In the quarterfinals, they faced the Dutch where the game headed to the penalties after a 2-2 draw after the extra time. Messi's side had the upper hand in the semi-final against Croatia and took revenge of 2018 beating them 3-0.
Messi's most-awaited trophy drought ended
The final was against the mighty France, the game was end to end and the match ended in a 3-3 draw with Kylian Mbappe single-handedly carrying the team till the shootout. Kylian Mbappe scored a hat trick in the final and became only the second player to score three goals in a final. Messi was sainted by the fans after the greatest of all time won in the shootout 4-2 with Gonzalo Montiel scoring the winning penalty.
Messi opened up in a recent interview, "I feel it like a triumph for me to have changed that situation and won over all the people of Argentina. Today 95 percent or 100 percent of Argentines love me and that’s a beautiful feeling."