35-year-old La Albiceleste captain, Lionel Messi, finally saw his long-cherished ambition come to fruition on Sunday night at the Lusail Stadium north of Doha – the same venue where they had most unexpectedly suffered a loss to lowly Saudi Arabia in their opening match – scoring twice as Argentina finally saw off gutsy defending champions France on spot kicks.
Most assuredly a match that will undoubtedly go down in World Cup history as one of the greatest, nail-biting finals, the tense encounter had first finished 2-2 in normal time – Argentina had been earlier 2-0 up until the 80th minute until a sizzling Kylian Mbappe equalized for Les Bleus – and then the match went to 3-3 in extra-time.
In the 108th-minute Messi’s goal looked to have finally sealed it, but the tenacity and unyielding determination of France talisman Mbappe conjured up his magnificent and most timely hattrick to force the shoot-out. The rest is history – Argentina went on to win 4-2 on penalties.
Messi, who had after the semi-final victory agasinst Croatia said this would be his final World Cup, told Argentine TV following the win on Sunday: “I want to keep experiencing a few more matches as world champion. Obviously I would like to end my career with this – I cannot ask for more.
“My career is nearly over because these are my last years.”
Messi, who has won almost every other major trophy – last year, he captained Argentina to the Copa America crown – seemed destined to miss out on the game’s greatest prize.
He lost the final to Germany in 2014, despite being named player of that tournament.
On Sunday, after collecting another award for best player, he said: “It’s crazy that it happened at the time it happened, but it’s amazing.
“It’s amazing that it could end this way. I said previously that God was going to grant me this and, I don’t know why, but I felt it was going to be this time.”
On the match, which forged a similar path to Argentina’s quarter-final victory against the Netherlands, also on penalties, Messi said: “It was a very strange match, the same as the other one against the Netherlands, and then when we went ahead in extra-time, it happened again.”
Meanwhile, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni would not entirely rule out Messi representing his country at another World Cup. Messi will be 38 by the time the tournament kicks off in the US, Canada and Mexico in the summer of 2026; he will turn 39 during it.
“First of all, we need to save him a spot for the next World Cup 2026,” Scaloni said. “If he wants to keep playing, he’ll be with us. I think that he’s more than entitled to decide whether he wants to keep playing for Argentina or not, or what he wants to do with his career.
“It’s such a huge pleasure for us to coach him and his teammates. Everything that he meets with his teammates is something unparalleled, something I’ve never seen before. A player, a person who gives so much to his teammates.”