🥇 MOTM: A fairytale ending for one of the greatest ever | OneFootball

Argentina triumphed on penalties in the most dramatic World Cup final of all time after initially squandering a 2-0 lead to France.

And our Man of the Match is …

Lionel Messi (Argentina)

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It takes a truly special team to lift a World Cup trophy when an opposition player scores a hat-trick.

That special side is Argentina, and they were led there by their extraordinary number 10, Lionel Messi.

It’s been 36 years since they have won the World Cup, when back in 1986 Diego Maradona was the man to spearhead that charge and now, two years after his death, his country have repeated that feat.

Until 2022, Messi had not scored a goal in the knockout stages of a World Cup, but he rectified that record with a goal at every single stage of the competition.

On another day, Kylian Mbappé would have earned this Man of the Match award, but it always felt like this was Lionel Messi’s tournament as the stars aligned to result in one of the greatest players the game has ever seen adding the World Cup to his long list of trophies.

Messi just would not be beaten despite suffering setback after setback, a tenacity that seems to have become greater as Father Time became his biggest adversary.

To reduce his contribution to two goals in normal time plus a converted penalty in the shootout seems somehow inadequate, such was the impact of his leadership, his drive and his desire to win.

At only 23 years old, Mbappé will have many more opportunities and may – in time – even overtake Messi.

But right now, there is only one Lionel Messi, and what he has achieved is truly magnificent.