Argentina 3-3 France (4-2 on penalties): Player ratings as Lionel Messi wins the World Cup
Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup thanks to a dramatic penalty shootout win over France in the final.
Argentina had taken a 2-0 lead thanks to a penalty from Lionel Messi and a goal from Angel Di Maria and looked set to cruise to victory before Kylian Mbappe turned the game in the final 10 minutes.
The French superstar scored a penalty kick and volleyed another in to take the game to extra time when his nation looked down and out. Messi would then step up in extra time to make it 3-2 before Mbappe converted another spot kick to take the game to penalties and secure a hat-trick.
The penalty shootout was then won by Argentina, with Gonzalo Montiel scoring the final kick.
Argentina made a slightly surprising tactical tweak for the game, reverting to a 4-3-3 with Di Maria on one flank and Messi occupying the other. The tweak completely caught France on the hop as Didier Deschamps' side largely struggled to retain possession throughout the first half.
The first notable efforts on goal all came from La Albiceleste as Rodrigo De Paul and Enzo Fernandez both fired decent efforts goalward - one which would deflect wide, the other right into Hugo Lloris' mid-riff.
Argentina would get their reward for their dominance in the 21st minute when Di Maria had his heels clipped by Ousmane Dembele in the box. While not the most contact we've ever seen, it was deemed enough for referee Szymon Marciniak to give a penalty kick.
Up stepped Messi who casually sent Lloris the wrong way to give Argentina a 1-0 lead.
Going behind didn't exactly wake France up and Argentina continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the first half without really having to get out of second gear.
In short, France were awful and Argentina were brilliant.
They were so brilliant in fact that, in the 35th minute, they doubled their lead. The second would come from Di Maria who passed the ball into the corner of the net after a brilliant quick counter attack led by Alexis Mac Allister.
Argentina's dominance continued into the second half as they were able to largely hold Les Bleus at arm's length.
Julian Alvarez, who put in a proper shift throughout, was next to come close to bagging a goal. The Man City man did well to get on the outside of Varane before drilling a shot toward the near post - a shot that Lloris saved well.
It would take France until the 67th minute to record their first shot on goal. Yep, 67 minutes to even have a shot on goal in a World Cup final.
That shot would come via Randal Kolo Muani's shoulder, with the substitute mistiming his jump from a corner kick and deflecting the ball wide of the post from six yards out. In truth, it was a much better chance than he made it look.
Kolo Muani continued to cause problems for Argentina after that, earning Les Bleus a penalty kick in the 78th minute by being hauled down by Nicolas Otamendi in the penalty area.
Mbappe - the game's other superstar - rifled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 2-1 and bring Les Bleus right back into the game.
Moments later, Mbappe did it again.
The French superstar bagged his second to draw his side level with a quite stunning volley from the edge of the Argentina penalty area after being chipped through on goal by Marcus Thuram.
It was all France after that goal as Argentina looked genuinely shellshocked at what had just occurred.
In the dying embers of the game, it was Argentina and Messi who had the last notable effort on goal. The number 10, in typical Messi fashion, ghosted past a player before firing a venomous effort goalward - an effort Lloris was on hand to palm over the crossbar.
France looked the much more energetic of the two sides in extra time as the fresh youthful legs of Eduardo Camavinga, Kolo Muani and Youssouf Fofana caused Argentina a whole host of problems.
Again, despite France looking the better side, Messi was again the man to carve out an opening. This time his injection of pace into the Argentine play led to the ball being passed to the unmarked Lautaro Martinez on the right of the penalty area. However, the substitute's subsequent effort on goal was brilliantly blocked by Dayot Upamecano.
At the start of the second half of extra time, Argentina and Messi would get their goal and take the lead again.
Messi would steal in to convert from three yards out after Lloris denied Martinez's strike from the right of the penalty area to give Argentina a 3-2 lead.
Amazingly, the drama didn't end there. With just four minutes left in extra time, that man Mbappe would get a chance to draw his side level at 3-3.
And, yep, he did just that.
Mbappe stepped up to drill the ball into the bottom left corner of the net and become the all-time top goalscorer in World Cup finals with four.
In the final minute of the game, Les Bleus would have two final chances through Kolo Muani. First, the youngster just couldn't direct his free header goalward however when completely unmarked in the box, and a short while later he was denied by the legs of Emi Martinez after stealing through on goal.
After those misses, the game went to a dreaded penalty shootout.
Mbappe and Messi would score their penalties (obviously) to kickstart the shootout, and then Coman stepped up and saw his effort saved by Martinez in the Argentina goal.
Paulo Dybala - subbed on to take a penalty - gave Argentina the advantage from the spot, before Aurelien Tchouameni drilled his wide of the post.
The misses gave Gonzalo Montiel a chance to win the World Cup from the spot and it was a chance he'd take, drilling the ball into the bottom corner of the net to secure footballing immortality for himself and his teammates.
Argentina player ratings (4-3-3)
GK - Emiliano Martinez - 8/10 - He had literally zero to do until the 70th minute, then conceded three goals but made a fantastic save to keep it at 3-3. Saved a penalty in the shootout.
RB - Nahuel Molina - 4/10 - Dealt with Kylian Mbappe with relative ease until the 78th minute, then he was ripped limb from limb by the superstar.
CB - Cristian Romero - 6/10 - Got across to help out Molina well when needed.
CB - Nicolas Otamendi - 3/10 - Gifted France a penalty with some terrible play.
LB - Nicolas Tagliafico - 5/10 - To say the least, he had an easy time of it watching Dembele try and play football in the first half. Didn't have as easy a time in the second half when up against Thuram.
CM - Rodrigo De Paul - 7/10 - Put in a proper shift in midfield as you'd expect.
CM - Enzo Fernandez - 7/10 - Out-battled and out-thought his opposite numbers in midfield.
CM - Alexis Mac Allister - 8/10 - The Brighton boy bagged himself a World Cup final assist and was generally bloody brilliant all game.
RW - Lionel Messi - 10/10 - Lively and scored a penalty kick again in the opening 20 minutes. His flicks around the corner and quick dribbles were a joy to watch throughout and later netted what looked to be the winner in extra time. Cooly slotted his spot kick.
ST - Julian Alvarez - 7/10 - Led Argentina's press brilliantly from the front.
LW - Angel Di Maria - 9/10 - Utterly electric on the left. Won his side a penalty which Messi would convert and then bagged a goal of his own.
SUB - Marcos Acuna - 4/10 - Quite bad to be honest.
SUB - Gonzalo Montiel - 6/10 - Gave away a penalty but then scored the winning penalty in the shootout.
SUB - Lautaro Martinez - 5/10 - Denied a goal by a fantastic Upamecano block.
SUB - Leandro Paredes - 6/10 - Scored his penalty.
SUB - Paulo Dybala - 6/10 - Scored his penalty.
SUB - German Pezella - N/A
France player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK - Hugo Lloris - 6/10 - Sent the wrong way by Messi's penalty and could do nothing about the second goal. Made a few good saves late in the game.
RB - Jules Kounde - 3/10 - Di Maria embarrassed the Barcelona man until he was subbed off.
CB - Raphael Varane - 6/10 - The best of a rather hapless French backline for most of the game.
CB - Dayot Upamecano - 6/10 - He was quite poor in the first half, not very good in the second, then brilliant in extra time.
LB - Theo Hernandez - 2/10 - Too often sloppy in possession in the opening exchanges.
CM - Aurelien Tchouameni - 3/10 - Overran by the Argentina midfield. Thoroughly disappointing and missed his spot kick in the shootout.
CM - Adrien Rabiot - 4/10 - Hopeless for about 80 minutes then sparked into life for the final 10 plus added time.
AM - Antoine Griezmann - 2/10 - Nowhere near the level he'd been at throughout the rest of the tournament.
RW - Ousmane Dembele - 0/10 - Gave away a penalty kick with a clumsy bit of defending and was completely off the pace. Honestly, probably the worst World Cup final performance in recent memory. Hooked after 40 minutes.
ST - Olivier Giroud - 1/10 - Clearly injured and shouldn't have started this game. Taken off after 40 minutes.
LW - Kylian Mbappe - 10/10 - Did nothing for 78 minutes and then scored two goals in 90 seconds to draw France level, and then scored a penalty in extra time to make it 3-3. He is literally one of the greatest footballers of all time and he's only 23 years old.
SUB - Marcus Thuram - 7/10 - Bagged an assist for the leveller.
SUB - Randal Kolo Muani - 8/10 - Much livelier than Dembele, although that wasn't hard, and won his side a penalty kick which got them back in the game. Missed two great chances to win the game in extra time.
SUB - Eduardo Camavinga - 7/10 - Added some much needed legs in the middle of the park.
SUB - Kingsley Coman - 7/10 - He changed the game when he came on. A livewire that Argentina simply didn't have the legs to deal with.
SUB - Youssouf Fofana - N/A
SUB - Ibrahima Konate - N/A
SUB - Axel Disasi - N/A