MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Messi's Argentina win Qatar World Cup on penalties

“We suffered a lot,” said Messi, “But what more could you ask for today? Football is really a crazy sport.”

Lionel Messi's Argentina toppled France as reigning football world champions with a 4-2 win on penalties at the Qatar 2022 final after a 2-2 regular time draw that became a 3-3 parity in extra time.

 Messi's Paris Saint Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé was man of the match with a hat trick (twice from the spot) that kept the European team in contention twice, surmounting 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to force the next tie-breaking stages. This achievement also earned him the consolation prize of being the top scorer at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Argentina had surged to a 2-0 first-half lead with goals from Messi (pk) and Ángel Di María forcing French coach Didier Deschamps to switch to Plan B even before the interval with two substitutions, which in addition to other changes, enabled his team's comeback as time was running out.

France continued to be in attacking mode during the extra time, but Argentina went ahead once again through Messi before Mbappé equalized again from yet another penalty kick to reach the shootout.

Argentine keeper Dibu Martínez stopped Kingsley Coman's shot, while Aurélien Tchouaméni missed his. All four Argentine shooters scored: Messi, Paulo Dybala, Leandro Paredes, and Gonzalo Montiel.

Martínez was also chosen best goalkeeper of the tournament and Messi lifted the best player award. Argentina's Enzo Fernández won the revelation of the tournament prize, the same accolade Mbappé had collected four years ago in Russia.

With his two goals Sunday, Messi also became Argentina's top scorer of all time at World Cups. But, most of all, Messi has now won a World Cup title, which evens up the table of merits with the late Diego Armando Maradona and allows for fresh considerations on who was best.

On Saturday, Croatia clinched third place with a 2-1 win over Morocco. Josko Gvardiol opened the score from a set piece after only 7 minutes and Morocco's Achraf Dari equalized two minutes later. But Mislav Orsic made it 2-1 before halftime.