By 
LUSAIL: After the penalty shootout on Sunday at Lusail Stadium , Lionel Messi’s ambition of winning the FIFA World Cup was realized with a thrilling triumph over the reigning champions France.
Argentina’s great Messi, who stepped up at the most vital moment of his career with two timely goals before opening the scoring for his side in the penalty shootout, had a fantastic finale to the nail-biting world cup final.
Before Angel Di Maria made it 2-0, Messi had handed Argentina the lead from the penalty spot in the first half. Argentina seemed to have a comfortable victory up until Kylian Mbappe scored twice in the final 97 seconds to send the game into extra time.
Then, in the 109th minute, Messi thought to have put an end to it when he converted a rebound. However, Mbappe scored from another penalty kick to draw the game to 3-3 and force a shootout. Mbappe scored his third goal of the game to become the first player since England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score three goals in a World Cup final.
In the penalty shootout, Messi and Mbappe both continued to battle for their clubs while opening the score with well-placed shots. However, the defending champions lost their way after Kingsley Coman’s next attempt for France was blocked and Aurelien Tchouameni critically missed the goal, swinging the outcome in Argentina’s favor.
Prior to Argentina’s world cup-winning penalty kick from Gonzalo Montiel, Paulo Dybala, and Leandro Paredes both successfully converted penalties. It is important to note that Argentina won the world championship for the third time overall and for the first time since 1986.
