Lionel Messi has converted a penalty for the first goal of the World Cup 2022 final.
Playing in a record 26th game at World Cup finals, Messi broke another record with the goal: no one had yet before scored in every round of the competition.
The penalty was also Messi's sixth goal of the tournament, putting him one ahead of Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot stakes.
The game started with a number of little fouls stopping the game from getting any kind of rhythm. Dayot Upamecano made his presence known to Lionel Messi in the opening stages with a rogue arm when the pair jumped for a header, while Rodrigo De Paul pushed over Adian Rabiot. Alexis Mac Allister had the first effort within five minutes – a long distance potshot that didn’t trouble Hugo Lloris too much, following Julian Alvarez deftly flicking the ball on.
Argentina had the better of the first 10 minutes, too. Another shot was deflected out for a corner, while Cristian Romero clattered into Hugo Lloris early on. France had the first major set-piece opportunity of the game though, when Antoine Griezmann got a free-kick within range to launch into Olivier Giroud.
Argentina went into this one having brought Angel Di Maria back into the fold for the final, just as they did for the Copa America win of 2021. Only Messi remained from the side that lost the World Cup final of 2014, in which the Albiceleste lost 1-0 to Germany after extra time.
France, meanwhile, quashed rumours of bringing Karim Benzema back into the side for a shock World Cup final appearance, instead reverting to the side that beat England 2-1. Olivier Giroud recovered from an injury scare, while Dayot Upamecano and Adrian Rabiot recovered from a cold.
