Messi Won The World Cup But Mbappe Won The Hearts

By Ishita Bhargava

On the night of 18th December 2022, the world encountered the win of Argentina led by the football heartthrob Lionel Messi. After their first loss to Saudi Arabia which proved to be the major upset in football history, the team through their hard work made it straight to the finals. The team fulfilled the dreams of their football god Maradona and finally took the trophy for the third time. People are praising and showering their love on Messi as he could lift the prestigious trophy finally before his retirement. On this date, the name Messi got imprinted along with Kempes, Maradona, and other champions as the football hero. However, it was France’s Kylian Mbappe who actually deserved much respect for his stellar performance in the finals. The 23-year-old player created history with his hat trick of goals against Argentina in Qatar. Despite the Argentine passion and Messi’s unforgetful footballing tour, the tremendous determination of the French team cannot be overlooked. After Geoff Hurst,

Mbappe became the first player to score a hat trick in the world cup finals after scoring a goal from a penalty shootout when only 2 minutes of extra time remained. Through his effort, he could eliminate the two-goal lead of Argentina towards the end of normal time which changed the story of Argentinian fantasy to France showcasing itself as one of the greatest football teams of all time. France fought back from 2-0, lost it again but could manage to equalise it to 3-3 through an astonishing penalty corner at the end of normal time because of the continued perseverance of the French striker. The game moved to a penalty shootout which bagged Argentina its trophy. Argentina was the more complete team therefore the cup going to them felt right. The goal scored by Mbappe in the 118th minute made him the second player in FIFA history to do so, which even bragged him the golden boot. It was an immediate return of France into the game which set up a finale that will be remembered for ages. France lost in the penalty shootout stage due to several misses against Argentina but Mbappe again proved to the best. However, this was easily overshadowed by Argentina who did not care to miss even a single shootout. Hence, for Argentina, it will be a team victory but for France, the match will be remembered for Mbappe’s continuous efforts. After Pele, Maradona, Zico, Platini, Zidane, Messi, and Ronaldo, now Mbappe is in the line and will be regarded as the new future of football.

By Ishita Bhargava