LUSAIL — By the end, it had become almost too much to watch. Argentina are world champions for the third time, beating France on penalties after a 3-3 draw of barely believable drama on Sunday night — and Lionel Messi, at 35 and in his last World Cup match, finally has the one medal that was missing.
For 79 minutes it looked simple. Messi scored a penalty, Ángel Di María finished a counterattack of rare beauty, and France — lethargic, virus-hit, unrecognisable — were nowhere. Then Kylian Mbappé scored twice in 97 seconds. In extra time Messi scored again, and Mbappé answered again, completing the first hat-trick in a World Cup final since 1966. In the 123rd minute, with the score level, Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez produced the save of the tournament to deny Randal Kolo Muani.
The shootout belonged to Argentina and to Martínez, who saved from Kingsley Coman before Gonzalo Montiel converted the winning kick. The final whistle released the squad, the 40,000 Argentines in the Lusail stands, and — by the images arriving through the night — much of Buenos Aires.
Messi leaves the World Cup with the Golden Ball, seven goals, and a debate settled for most who watched: at last he has done in the blue and white what he has done all his life in Barcelona colours. He is the first player to win the Golden Ball twice.
The tournament itself will be argued over for years — its winter slot, its host, its cost in migrant workers’ lives. But its final match needs no qualifiers. It stands on its own.
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