At the end of a completely crazy match, a final that will go down in legend, Argentina beat France, Sunday December 18, at the Lusail stadium (Qatar), to win the 2022 World Cup, the third of its history.
After leading 2-0 ten minutes from the end of regulation time, then 3-2 in extra time, the Albiceleste saw the French team return to equality twice in the match. But Kylian Mbappé’s hat-trick – record equaled in the World Cup final – was not enough. The Argentinians won on penalties (3-3, 4-2 tab), after a double from Lionel Messi, who thus won the last title that was missing from his immense record.
“It’s a match where we sufferedsummarized the Argentine goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez. They came back, it was very, very complicated. Our team had this destiny which was to suffer. We were leading 3-2, they noticed and they almost noticed again. This World Cup, I really dreamed of it. »
Dominating, more incisive, the Argentinians quickly took the lead after a generous penalty converted by Lionel Messi, following a foul by Ousmane Dembélé on Angel Di Maria (1-0, 23e minute). Lionel Scaloni’s men even made the break on a perfectly led counter-attack concluded by Di Maria a quarter of an hour later (2-0, 36e). Stunned, the Blues do not respond, despite the rapid entries of Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram in place of Ousmane Dembélé and Olivier Giroud (41e), who are trying to revive a dormant team.
Mbappé revives the Blues in 95 seconds
Halftime doesn’t change anything. “Today, for an hour, we were not in the game”, recognized Raphaël Varane after the medal ceremony. You have to wait for the 68e minute to see Randal Kolo Muani make the first French strike of the match. Well padlocked by the Argentine defense until then, Kylian Mbappé tried his luck three minutes later, but his shot flew into the Qatari sky.
With just over ten minutes to play in regulation time, Argentina are heading for a third world title. But as against Australia, in the round of 16, and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, Lionel Scaloni’s men revive their opponents, while victory is reaching out to them.
Randal Kolo Muani takes advantage of a poorly negotiated ball by the Argentine defense to escape the opposing defense. Nicolas Otamendi fouls in his penalty area and offers a 2-1 ball to the French. Kylian Mbappé converts the penalty and restarts the game (2-1, 80e).
The match then takes an unreal turn. A few seconds after the engagement, Adrien Rabiot shifts Kylian Mbappé, the PSG striker finds Marcus Thuram, who immediately tightens it. On a volley, the genius of Bondy finds the small opposite net of Emiliano Martinez to equalize (2-2, 81e) just one minute and thirty-five seconds after scoring his first goal. The Blues come out of nowhere and give themselves the right to dream in overtime.
France fall again on penalties
France seems to have taken the psychological advantage and can count on an exceptional save from Dayot Upamecano ahead of Lautaro Martinez (105e). But it is the Argentinians who end up scoring. Ten minutes from the end, they play a wonderful three against two: if Lautaro Martinez sees his attempt repelled by Hugo Lloris, Lionel Messi recovers the ball and takes the opportunity to sign a double and restore the advantage to his team (3-2 , 109e).
The minutes pass and an Argentinian coronation is approaching once again… Until Gonzalo Montiel comes to counter a shot from Kylian Mbappé with his arm, allowing the Blues to snatch a new penalty. Unaffected by the pressure, the Parisian once again brought the two teams tied (3-3, 118e). After stoppage time, the French failed to kill the match, but Randal Kolo Muani stumbled on an exceptional exit from Emiliano Martinez (123e). “Fortunately, this foot defended us”, reacted the Argentinian goalkeeper after the meeting.
On penalties, the Argentinians do not tremble, despite the pressure put on by Kylian Mbappé, who scores first for the Blues. Lionel Messi equalizes and Paulo Dybala gives the Albiceleste the lead after Kingsley Coman’s failed attempt (2-1). Leandro Paredes even allows his team to count two balls in advance, after a missed shot on goal by Aurélien Tchouaméni (3-1). Randal Kolo Muani’s successful strike is useless. With the match point between his feet, Gonzalo Montiel deceives Hugo Lloris (4-2).
“Almost a boxing match”
“Unfortunately, we were too reactive in this finalanalyzed the goalkeeper and captain of the Blues after the meeting. It was almost a boxing match where we went blow for blow. Our only regret is that we completely missed our first half. »
“We come from nowhere. But when we come back from nowhere, we get closer and it escapes us, it’s even more difficult to digest, for his part reacted the coach of the Blues, Didier Deschamps, at the microphone of TF1. We didn’t do the right thing for almost an hour. Afterwards, with a lot of qualities, courage, energy, we pushed them to their last entrenchments…”
Before becoming more elliptical: “We didn’t have all our strength and our energies. I’m not going to go into explanations…”
With this success, Argentina won the third title in its history, after 1978 and 1986. After winning the Copa America last year (against Brazil, 1-0), Lionel Messi won the last title he lacked, the one he had been chasing after since 2006.
For their part, the French miss the opportunity to achieve a historic double after their coronation in 2018, in Russia. This is their second defeat in the final after that of 2006. The second, too, lost on penalties.