He has done it! Lionel Messi joins Passarella and Maradona as a World Cup winning captain | Football News

Lionel Messi is finally a World Cup winner. The Albiceleste have ended a 36 year wait for the World Cup trophy. In what was an absolute classic, Argentina beat France on penalties 4-2, after it ended locked at 3-3 after extra time.
It was an absolute see-saw battle between two teams who gave it their all on the football pitch. Argentina were clearly the more fluent team in the first half, taking a two goal lead, thanks to a Messi penalty and an Angel Di Maria strike in the 36th minute. But France came back into the contest, scoring twice via Kylian Mbappe, with the first one coming off a penalty. Messi then scored again in the 108th minute, only for Mbappe to make it 3-3 in the 118th minute, again off a penalty.
The match went into penalties and ended in Argentina’s favour 4-2.

(Reuters photo)

(Getty Images)
Here’s a quick look at all the records that were broken and re-written and some of the key stats after Argentina’s third World Cup title:
1. The Albiceleste have ended a 36 year wait for the World Cup title. They last won the World Cup in 1986
2. Lionel Messi has won his first World Cup title and has emulated the other two Argentinian World Cup winning captains – Daniel Passarella (1978) and Diego Maradona (1986)
3. Argentina have become just the fourth team to win three or more World Cup titles. The all-time record is still with Brazil, with 5 titles, followed by Germany and Italy, who are tied on 4 titles each

4. Europe’s hegemony of the title has finally ended. Argentina have become the first South American team to win the title since Brazil in 2002. The last four editions of the World Cup had been won by European teams (2006 – Italy; 2010 – Spain; 2014 – Germany and 2018 – France)
5. Argentina’s win-loss record at the World Cup final now stands at 3:3. Wins in 1978, 1986 and 2022 and losses in the finals of the 1930, 1990 and 2014 editions

6. Lionel Messi has brought the curtain down on his World Cup career with the biggest win and biggest trophy of his life. He was also adjudged the Player of the tournament and won the Golden Ball
7. Argentina have become the first South American team since Brazil in 2002 to beat European opposition in the World Cup final. Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the 2002 final
8. Lionel Messi now has the most World Cup appearances with 26. He went past Germany’s Lothar Matthaus when he played in the final in Qatar

9. Messi has also become the first player to win the coveted World Cup Golden Ball award twice, since it was first given out in the 1982 edition in Spain, which was won by Italian Paolo Rossi. Messi finished the 2022 edition with 7 goals, 1 goal behind eventual Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe
10. 7 goals is the most Messi has ever scored in a single edition of the World Cup. He previously scored five goals in the 2014 edition in Brazil, in which Argentina were runners-up to Germany
11. Messi scored a brace in the final vs France and that saw him go past Pele on the list of most World Cup goals scored. In the process Messi has equaled France’s Just Fontaine on 13 World Cup goals. The record for the most number of World Cup goals ever scored belongs to Germany’s Miroslav Klose (16 goals), with Brazil’s Ronaldo Nazario in second place (15 goals) and Germany’s Gerd Muller in third (14 goals)
12. France have ended as runners-up for just the second time in World Cup history. They previously finished second in the 2006 edition when they lost 3-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the final to Italy