"Diego is watching us in the sky." Messi did what the Argentine No. 10 did 36 years ago - led the team to win the Hercules Cup.
▲On December 18, Argentina team players celebrated at the award ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Can
6 years of waiting have finally come true today. The large Maradona poster displayed by Argentine fans in the stands of Lusail Stadium shook slightly. The No. 10 when Argentina won the championship in 1986 "looked" at Messi, who wore No. 10 in 2022 and scored two goals. After overtime and a penalty shootout, he once again brought the " Pampas Eagle " to the top of the world. At the post-match personal awards ceremony, Messi won the World Cup Golden Ball and kissed the Hercules Cup affectionately "in advance".
▲On December 18, Messi, the Argentina player who won the World Cup Golden Ball, kissed the Hercules Cup at the award ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Can
Messi
The "King of Football" was crowned, and many records were rewritten
On December 18, 2022, Beijing time, the "Pampas Eagle" stood at the World Cup finals for the sixth time. The first five times were not all good memories. Except for winning the Hercules Cup in 1978 and 1986, the Argentinians ended their World Cup journey with defeats in the other three times. Argentinian fans hope that the team can end the World Cup journey with a victory this time. The defeat in the first game will not affect the realization of the dream. The Spaniard has proved this in 2010.
Messi is the well-deserved focus. The moment he stepped on the court, he set a new record - surpassing the German legend Matthaus and becoming the player with the most appearances in the World Cup with 26 appearances. What is more important than appearance is performance. The outside world had already predicted before this final that if Argentina wins the championship, Messi will become a veritable "king of the ball."
▲ Messi won the Hercules Cup. Picture/IC photo
’s exclusive World Cup appearance record is just the beginning of Messi’s “statistics”. In the 23rd minute, he scored a penalty kick created by Di Maria . This goal is to make up for past regrets. Messi had previously participated in 6 finals (World Cup, America's Cup, , European and American Super Cup) with the adult national team, but failed to score a goal; this goal witnessed the birth of the "first man in history" - he has directly scored 21 goals in the World Cup; this goal is Messi's 6th goal in this World Cup, and he has also become the oldest player (35 years and 177 days old) to score 6 goals in a single World Cup.
▲After scoring in overtime, Messi celebrated in front of the fans. Picture/Xinhua News Agency
One minute after scoring the goal, Messi surpassed Maldini with 2218 minutes of World Cup playing time, ranking first in the World Cup playing time list. After that, every minute he played on the court became a new record.
After "breaking" the deadlock, Messi's artistic pass in the 36th minute led to Argentina's classic defensive counterattack and Di Maria's goal. In the 109th minute of overtime, he scored his second goal of the game and was the first to appear in the penalty shootout and hit the penalty... Although Messi lost the Golden Boot battle with Mbappe by one goal, he won something more important.
Just like Messi said before, "Diego is watching us in the sky", he finally did what the Argentine No. 10 did 36 years ago - led the team to win the Hercules Cup .
Di Maria
"Angel" protects and lays the foundation for the championship
Including the injured Di Maria on the World Cup roster has caused head coach Scaloni to be criticized and questioned, but the "Angel", who participated in the World Cup for the fourth time, proved with his performance in the final that all trust in him is worth it.
In the 2014 World Cup final, Di Maria was unable to participate due to injury. This was an injury blow that made Argentina unhappy - if Messi had Di Maria by his side that year, the plot might have been a different version.Unfortunately, he made up for it eight years later, and created a point in the 20th minute and scored a counterattack in the 36th minute. Di Maria helped Argentina to gain a fantasy first half. This data makes the "Angel" the first player to "create penalty + goal" in the World Cup final.
▲Messi and Di Maria celebrated the goal. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
After scoring the goal, Di Maria burst into tears. This is a goal that he and Argentina have been waiting for too long. In the 64th minute, Scaloni replaced Di Maria, who had done enough. Fans in the stands were applauding, and Argentina's coaches and substitutes stood in front of the bench to applaud.
"Angel" has long been confirmed. This is his last World Cup. He created points and goals in the finals, helped Argentina win the championship, and helped Messi achieve the crown of the new king. This is the fairy tale ending that "Angel" should enjoy - even before the ending comes, he still needs to go through "exciting" episodes such as overtime and penalty shootouts.
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After winning the championship Messi said this
After winning the championship Messi said: "It's crazy to win the championship in this way. I really long for it. I know God will give me this trophy. I have a hunch that I will win the championship, and now enjoy it."
"Let's look at this trophy, it's so beautiful, we suffered a lot, but we did it. Now we can't wait to go back to Argentina to see how crazy it will be to celebrate."
"Obviously I want to end my career with this trophy, and now I can't ask for more. Thank God for giving it all, this is the trophy I've hoped to win for the rest of my life, this is my dream since childhood."
"What will happen afterwards? I won the Copa America and World Cup championship... It came almost at the end of my career. I love football, just like I did. I enjoy being in the national team and in the group. I will not retire from the national team yet and want to continue playing as a world champion."
" (winning the World Cup) This is everyone's little dream, and I am very lucky to realize this dream that was once missing. . "
▲Argentina national football team Weibo screenshot
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This is the most exciting final in the history of the World Cup
You should not have missed it, right?
5
Messi's "last dance" finally fulfilled his dream
006 was the starting point of Messi's World Cup journey. He led the team to the World Cup final in 2014, but unfortunately lost to Germany. After returning with regret for the first four times, the 35-year-old Messi finally realized his dream in Qatar, won the Hercules Cup for the first time, and became the first player to win the World Cup Golden Globe Award twice. Number of participating (5 times), appearances (26 times), assists (8 times), goals (21 times), wins (17 times), playing time (2314 minutes)... At the end of the World Cup journey, Messi finished perfectly with his championship and multiple historical records.
2
The final with the most goals in history
scored 4 goals in regular time, scored 2 goals in overtime, and 6 goals in penalty shootouts, with a total score of 7-5. If all goals are included, this is the final with the most goals in the history of the World Cup. Even if the penalty shootout goal was removed, six goals could rank second in history, second only to the 1958 final, when Brazil won 5-2.
Afa Penalty Battle Creates Classic
This is the 8th time in the history of the World Cup finals and the third time in the penalty shootout. The previous two times were in 1994 and 2006. In the 1994 World Cup final, Brazil faced Italy, and Robert Baggio lost his last penalty and watched Brazil win the championship. In the 2006 World Cup, Zidane was sent off with a red card in overtime, and France lost to Italy in the penalty shootout.There is no need to elaborate on this year's final. All 24 Argentine players, Messi, Dybala, , Paredes, , Montel, , all of them were penalized to help Argentina win the cup.
▲Getting the Golden Boot, missing the "Golden Cup", Mbappe couldn't hide his loss. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
56
Mbappe "wears a hat" to tie the legend
Messi finally realized his dream of the World Cup, and Argentina won the championship for the third time, which was the victory of the Argentine. But the game was able to end so much in an extremely dramatic way, thanks to Mbappe for his great personal performance. He scored a "hat trick" in 120 minutes, and after 1966's legendary England striker Hurst, someone has achieved this achievement in World Cup history. In addition, Mbappe scored 4 goals in the last two World Cup finals, becoming the historical scorer in the World Cup finals.
6
Argentina won the championship again and comforted Lao Ma
The number of World Cup wins has always been the greatest capital of all traditional strong teams, and it also represents the change in the order of the world football world. Argentina won the previous two championships in 1978 and 1986, and the last time it won the championship was in the Maradona era - this championship is also the best comfort for the deceased "King of Football". 36 years later, Argentina finally topped the top again, and rose to fourth place in history with three championships, second only to Germany, Italy, and Brazil, which had four championships.
▲Messi and Argentine teammates enjoy the moment of winning the cup. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Single Award for this World Cup
Golden Ball Award: Messi (Argentina)
Golden Boot Award: Mbappe (France)
Golden Glove Award: Martinez (Argentina)
Best Rookie: Enzo (Argentina)
Fair Competition Award: England
Part of the content source Argentina national football team official Weibo
