MADRID, 18 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Argentine team has been proclaimed world champion for the third time in its history after beating France this Sunday in the penalty shootout of the World Cup final in Qatar (3-3, 4-2 on penalties), a match in which she wasted a 2-0 lead at half-time and in which, from eleven meters, she became the queen of the soccer planet again three decades later.
Leo Messi, from a penalty, and Ángel Di María, put Lionel Scaloni’s team ahead before the intermission, but a minute of inspiration from Kylian Mbappé (min. 80 and 81) condemned the game to extra time. It was there that his teammate at PSG, capturing a rebound from a shot by Lautaro Martínez, put Lionel Scaloni’s team ahead again in the 109th minute, and again the French star, completing his hat-trick, forced penalties , where the albiceleste prevailed.
36 years after Diego Armando Maradona embraced the golden trophy at the Azteca Stadium, the ‘Flea’ became eternal to raise to the sky of Lusail, at 35 years old, the long-awaited cup that, now, puts him at the height of ‘Pelusa’ for his compatriots. A sincere and emotional tribute to the eternal ’10’, who passed away in 2020.
With this, the albiceleste celebrates their third win in style (1978, 1986 and 2022) and breaks the curse of the Copa América champion, who until now had never been able to win the next World Cup. Meanwhile, France is left without the possibility of revalidating the title, something that Pelé’s Brazil achieved for the last time in 1958 and 1962.