News
BREAKING NEWS
Argentina are the new world champions! 36 years after the late Diego Maradona and his squad won the FIFA World Cup at Mexico City in 1986, a new group of legends, led by the great Lionel Messi, finished the fight and gave Argentina their third world championship.
In front of 88,966 fans at Lusail Stadium in Qatar—a record for a World Cup Final since 1994 (94,194 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena)—La Albiceleste led the way with Messi scoring a penalty goal in the 23rd minute against France, the defending titleholders. Later, in the 36th minute, Alexis Mac Allister smoothly manoeuvred the ball to Ángel Di María, who shot over French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to make it 2–0. Entering halftime, many people thought Argentina would carry the second half to win it all, but the tables have turned in favour of the French; Kylian Mbappé scored another penalty goal in the 80th minute, but things didn't stop there. 97 seconds later, Mbappé got a pass from Marcus Thuram before screaming the ball into the goal to equalize at 2–2. Towards the end of added time, Messi's shot was saved by Lloris, ultimately taking the game to extra time.
In the 108th minute, Lautaro Martínez's shot was saved by Lloris again; however, this time, Messi pulled through from close range to make it 3–2. However, France wouldn't let it slide, as in the 118th minute, Mbappé scored yet another penalty goal—his second of the game—to complete an outstanding hat trick, becoming only the second man to do so in a World Cup final after Geoff Hurst's magnificent performance for England at home in 1966. And, as simple as that, the game went to a penalty shootout.
Mbappé and Messi, fellow Paris Saint-Germain clubmates, successfully scored the first two goals of the shootout, but Kingsley Coman's shot was saved by Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, and if that's not bad enough for France, after Paulo Dybala's successful shot, Aurélien Tchouaméni shot the ball wide of the goal. France were at the brink of defeat, especially with Leandro Paredes making it 3–1. However, they weren't giving up, with the help of Kolo Muani, but for Argentina, victory was in sight. It was Gonzalo Montiel who shot the winning penalty to win the World Cup for Argentina.
After the game, the area surrounding the Obelisco in Buenos Aires was packed all day, among many other places throughout the capital and the rest of Argentina. Later, on the day of the championship parade, which was suddenly cut short for safety concerns, 4 million people—an Argentinian record—filled the streets of Buenos Aires. Regardless of what happened, this was one of the greatest moments in modern Argentinian history.