24 hours on from the most dramatic, enthralling final in World Cup history, I’m still a little lost for words.
What we saw over the course of more than 120 minutes at Lusail Stadium yesterday afternoon was awe-inspiring. Lionel Messi solidified his status as the greatest player to ever play the game, while Kylian Mbappe showed that at just 23 years of age, he is well and truly on the path to immortality.
Will he ever reach Messi’s status? Who knows.
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At this remove, it seems unlikely that anyone will ever receive the acclaim that Messi did yesterday. The entire world was apparently supporting the little boy from Rosario. The man who was once deemed more Catalan than Argentine, a man that has lived in the shadow of a God for 35 years has finally ended the Greatest of All Time debate.
Not that there ever really was much of a debate to begin with. The greats of yesteryear - Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo Nazario - All at one point had a claim to the crown. But for a long time now, Messi has eclipsed them.
As always with Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo lingers in the background. For many years, the two went toe to toe as the faces of Barcelona and Real Madrid. And while there has been some revisionism at play lately with Ronaldo’s career, let’s not forget that for a decade, he was Messi’s equal. Even if you disagree with that argument, you cannot deny that he was far and away the only player to even come close to Messi during this era.
Ronaldo fanatics may even point to CR7’s amazing goalscoring ability and a slew of titles as evidence of their favourite player’s superiority over Messi.
But the important thing with Messi is not how many titles he won or how many times he was named World Player of the year. Messi’s single greatest quality is the way he makes you feel when you watch him play football.
A decade ago, Messi was this unstoppable goal-scoring machine. A dribbling dynamo, he may well have been a ballroom dancer in another life so gracefully did he glide across the turf. Twice, he eviscerated Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United teams in Champions League finals. In years to come, the likes of Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand have spoken about Messi as though he was an extraterrestrial being.
10 years later, he is still out of this world. The blistering pace has long deserted him, as has much of his fitness. It’s easy to forget, but at his peak, Messi was a ferocious hassler of defenders. What remains, however, is a football brain second to none.
At 35-years-old, he basically can’t sprint for more than five yards. Yet somehow, he had all the time in the world yesterday to pick out Angel Di Maria time and time again. His killer instincts remain as sharp as ever, and when Hugo Lloris parried Lautaro Martinez’s effort into the danger zone, Messi was on hand to bundle the ball home. For the second time in the same game, Messi had put Argentina on the path to victory.
But Mbappe wasn’t to be denied that easily. Say what you will about the PSG attacker but, my word, he is terrifying. And, he shows up on the biggest occasions. With minutes left in extra time, Mbappe smashed home his second penalty of the game to complete his hat-trick.
Another sensational World Cup final display and another slice of history for Mbappe. In 2018, he became the first teenager to score in the final since Pele. Yesterday, he scored the first World Cup hat trick since Geoff Hurst in 1966. With 12 World Cup goals in two tournaments, Mbappe is well on his way to being the greatest World Cup performer ever. He’s still only 23-years-old by the way, a terrifying thought.
For 80 minutes, Argentina bossed proceedings. Messi's first goal came from the penalty spot after a dazed Ousmane Dembele fouled Angel Di Maria in a moment that summed up the French performance to that point. Di Maria added a second before halftime after Messi's flick round the corner started a lightning-quick counter attack - an all-time great World Cup final goal.
With ten minutes remaining, Argentina looked certain to cruise to victory.
Within 95 seconds, it was 2-2.
First, Mbappe slotted home a penalty before smashing a wonderful second goal on the volley. The Frenchman's little header in the build-up dumbfounded the defence and the shot was too hot for Emi Martinez to deal with.
Into extra-time we went in this epic of a final. Messi struck first, but Mbappe responded from the spot again. Think of David Clifford v Shane Walsh in the 2022 All Ireland final, two superstars showing no quarter.
Martinez pulled off a wonder save in the 123rd minute to deny Randal Kolo Muani, while Lautaro Martinez finished his tournament how he started by butchering a golden opportunity.
Penalties. A fitting way to end the most dramatic of finals.
In the shootout, both Messi and Mbappe went first for their teams. Having already scored twice from the spot, Mbappe rubbished defenders of Harry Kane who said a player should never take more than one penalty in the same game. Mbappe scored three yesterday and in doing so, banished the memories of his shootout miss against Switzerland in last summer’s European Championships.
Messi has had his fair share of penalty nightmares as well. 2012 against Chelsea. 2016 in the Copa America final. Even earlier in this tournament, Wojciech Szczęsny denied Messi from the spot. But, when it mattered most, Messi passed the ball into the net as if he were playing Sunday league with his mates. This set the tone for the Argentinians and after some Emi Martinez heroics, Argentina were champions.
The scenes after the game will live long in the memory. Messi hoisted on the shoulders of his countrymen as he raised the trophy aloft gave the world what is sure to be one of the most iconic photos in sports history.
As has been present throughout this World Cup, a reminder of where the final is and the controversies surrounding its setting. We don’t know exactly how many migrant workers died to build the magnificent Lusail stadium and all the other purpose-built venues, and we likely never will get a final official tally. The Guardian reports 6,500 deaths, one can only hope that this is a gross overestimation.
Football and politics are supposed to mix like oil and water, but try telling that to Gianni Infantino. The FIFA President tried with all his might to linger in camera shots for as long as possible as he handed the trophy to Messi.
He began the tournament by proclaiming ‘Today, I am a migrant worker/gay/Qatari.’ Perhaps he will now try and claim that he is a World Cup winner as well. And then Messi was adorned with a traditional Qatari gown. As he lifted the trophy, Qatar finally got the World Cup image that they had waited 13 years for.
But perhaps for once, it is acceptable to focus on the football. There will be time later for an in-depth look at what the Qatar World Cup stood for and what changes it did or didn’t bring about.
For now, Messi is the story. His name will be uttered for decades. He is the single greatest player to ever set foot upon a pitch. It’s a feeling that is unanimous. At 35 years of age, he sparkled over the last four weeks.
He played virtually every minute and turned in performance after performance on the biggest stage in the sport. When it mattered most, he dragged his country over the line and picked up the one trophy that had eluded him this whole time.
Finally, the king has his crown.
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