We Are The Champions
Messi finally leads his team to the mountaintop as Argentina wins FIFA World Cup
The dream finally came true for soccer icon Lionel Messi, who on Sunday led his team to a 4-2 victory in penalty kicks over France to secure Argentina's first FIFA World Cup championship since 1986.
The game was dominated by Argentina early, with Messi scoring on a penalty kick early in the match to put the Argentines up 1-0. They would score again to go up 2-0 heading into halftime. In the second half, though, rising French superstar Kylian Mbappé, who had been quiet on the pitch up until that point, decided to turn things around with a penalty kick of his own that cut the deficit to 2-1.
Just minutes later, Mbappé would fire a sharp pass into the net to tie the game, stunning Argentina and making him just the second men's player to score in back-to-back World Cup finals.
The game headed into extra time knotted at 2-2, with neither team looking to give an inch. However, when Argentina needed him most, Messi snuck the ball into the net in the 109th minute to regain the lead. Mbappé, though, had no intentions of going quietly, scoring a hat trick off yet another penalty kick to tie the game late.
Following the 3-3 tie, both Mbappé and Messi scored in the penalty kick shootout, continuing their dominance of the game. However, in the end, it was Argentina who won the shootout 4-2 and was able to crown themselves the champions, cementing Messi's legacy as one of the greatest, and perhaps the greatest, players in history.