Argentina thwart France comeback to win epic World Cup final on penalties

Argentina have won the World Cup for a third time, requiring a penalty shootout to do so when an epic contest with France finished 3-3 after extra-time.

Kylian Mbappe became just the second man to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final, but it was not enough, with Lionel Messi winning the battle of the PSG superstars thanks to his brace for Argentina.

It was the definition of a see-saw affair as the South Americans went 2-0 up, before being pegged back late and dragged to extra-time. Messi’s second and Mbappe’s third took the game to penalties where Emi Martinez made a save, Aurelien Tchouameni fired wide and Gonzalo Montiel scored the winning strike.

Lionel Scaloni’s side completely dominated the vast majority of normal time, finding themselves two goals to the good at half-time through Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria and looking largely unruffled.

Di Maria won a penalty after being felled by Ousmane Dembele, which allowed Lionel Messi to slot home 23 minutes in, scoring his sixth goal of the competition.

Di Maria then netted himself, rounding off a stunning team move on 36 minutes which featured Messi, Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Rodriguez and will go down as one of the goals of the tournament.

80 minutes had passed before France even looked like a threat, but two goals in two minutes from Kylian Mbappe changed everything and took the game to extra-time. The second of his brace a memorable volley after a one-two with Marcus Thuram on the edge of the box.

The remarkable turnaround took the match to extra-time and Argentina were rattled, but they regained their composure as the added period began and Messi found the winner in the second half.

Substitute Lautaro Martinez was played through on goal but from a tight angle, producing a fine save from Hugo Lloris, but the rebound fell to Messi who poked home.

That looked to be it, but France were awarded a penalty when an Mbappe shot struck an Argentine arm and the prolific forward completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, scoring his seventh of the tournament.

Then came the shootout, which begun with Mbappe and Messi finding the back of the net yet again, both scoring the first for their countries.

Kingsley Coman was next up for France and he saw his effort saved by Emiliano Martinez, while Aurelien Tchouameni made another mistake for the French, dragging his effort wide. Gonzalo Montiel was the man to score the winning spot-kick for Argentina, who were perfect with their efforts.

The Brighton star showed calmness and quality as he then swept the ball inside to the onrushing Di Maria who finished with ease to complete a rapid, flowing, skilful move which left the defending champions looking some way off the pace of their opponents.

Kylian Mbappe stepped up and slotted the ball past the diving Emiliano Martinez and into the corner of the goal to the goalkeeper’s right.

That was with 10 minutes to play, and with nine minutes left the score was level as Mbappe doubled his tally to stun the South Americans.

The PSG superstar played a one-two with Thuram on the edge of the box before volleying home impressively past Martinez and taking his own tally to seven for the World Cup.

WOW. WOW. WOW.

KYLIAN MBAPPE EQUALISES FOR FRANCE IN THE WORLD CUP FINAL 🇫🇷🏆#ITVFootball | #FifaWorldCup pic.twitter.com/c1dOZhScpx

Having controlled the vast majority of the match, suddenly Argentina were rattled and on the back foot as France were full of energy and looking dangerous to win it at the death.

Messi is never far away from a moment of magic, though, and he nearly avoided extra-time with a curling effort from outside the area 97 minutes in which was well saved by Lloris.

Extra-time was predictably tense, with both sides having chances but also clearly tiring but there were two more goals to come before the penalties, both in the second half.

First Messi gave Argentina the lead again as he pounced on a rebound from a Lautaro Martinez shot, before Mbappe scored for the third time from the penalty spot after a handball in the box from an Mbappe shot.

The big moments in the shootout saw Coman’s shot saved by Martinez and Tchoumeni sending his effort wide, while Argentina scored all of their penalties, as Sevilla’s Montiel netting the winner.

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