Fans Go Wild as Albiceleste Win in a Dramatic World Cup Final

Lionel Messi sent the Lusail Stadium into rapturous celebration as he finally realised his dream of winning a World Cup title, guiding Argentina to glory through a nerve-wracking penalty shootout against France in Qatar in one of the greatest ever finals.

Argentinian fans the world over erupted in wild celebrations as their team prevailed, scoring every spot kick while France squandered two of their efforts amid the mind games of Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Earlier Messi had scored a desperate goal in extra time to drag his team back in front of defending champions France – only for Kylian Mbappe to seal a hat-trick and set up a nerve-wracking penalty shootout.

Thousands of Argentina fans went wild after their team went into half-time with a 2-0 lead against France in the World Cup final in Doha tonight, only for France’s wonderboy Kylian Mbappe to score two goals in quick succession to haul the defending champions back level.

Lionel Messi put Argentina in front against France with a calmly taken penalty in the 23rd minute to spark jubilant scenes among the vociferous Argentine supporters, who outnumber the French fans by about 90 per cent in the Lusail Stadium.

Argentina fans were then sent into dreamland after Angel Di Maria, who was fouled for the penalty, capped off a sublime team move by slotting the ball past Hugo Lloris following a rapid counter attack in the 36th minute.

It looked as though Messi’s men were set to cruise to glory, but Mbappe slotted home a penalty in the 80th minute to pull a goal back and become the joint top scorer with Messi at six tournament goals each.

A minute later, the 23-year-old equalised, dragging a lacklustre French side back into contention and scoring his 7th goal of the tournament to put him in line for the Golden Boot.

The second half of extra time brought yet more drama as Messi managed to scramble the ball over the line. For a moment it looked as though the goal was going to be disallowed but a quick check ensured the ball had fully crossed the line.

Argentina fans exploded in yet another wave of joyous celebrations, only for their team to give away a crucial penalty just minutes from time.

Mbappe stepped up and buried the spot kick, becoming only the second player after Sir Geoff Hurst to score a hat trick in World Cup Final and setting up an unbearably tense penalty shootout.

Thousands of Argentina fans in blue and white outnumbered the handful of French supporters, creating an electric atmosphere and effectively converting the Lusail Stadium into a home game for Lionel Scaloni’s side – though only around three-quarters of the seats were filled.

The throngs of South American supporters overcrowded Doha’s metro prior to the match with Qatar Rail delaying access to the stations as a modest closing ceremony kicked off inside the stadium with dancers celebrating ‘A Night to Remember’.

The crowd watched Qatar’s air force planes flying over Lusail as the Gulf state also celebrated its national day, with thousands of police forces, including anti-riot units armed with water canons, securing the area.

After 63 matches, the World Cup in Qatar comes to a close with reigning champions France taking on Argentina in a showpiece final with both teams looking to add a third star to their crest.

France’s Mbappe and Argentina’s Messi, both playing for the Qatari-owned club, are also a reminder of Qatar’s influence on global football beyond the FIFA World Cup organisation.

“Our parents talked to us about Maradona, and we will talk to our sons about Messi… We hope that we will win the cup, and we can celebrate with him and all the people in Argentina,” said Nicolas Gomez, a fan from Argentina.

Thousands also gathered outside the stadium to watch the game on giant screens: “We have no tickets. We are here for the national day and because the players might come out after the finish. We wanted to just see them,” said Shafeek Mydheea, a tourist from Dubai standing in front of two rows of riot police outside Lusail metro station.

Millions across the world tuned in to see who would come out on top as two of the sports greatest players – Messi and Mbappe – fought it out to become world champions.

The defending champions France were looking to become the first team in more than 60 years to retain the title, with young superstar Mbappe ready to become a two-time world champion two days before his 24th birthday.

Meanwhile the hopes and dreams of millions of Argentinians rested on Lionel Messi, who aimed to bookend his magnificent career with the one title that has eluded him and cement his place as the greatest to ever play the game.

France’s team emerged from their bus quietly while Argentina’s players including talisman Messi sang and danced around their bus, much to the bemusement of their Sikh driver whose turban was the same colour as the South Americans’ light blue and white strip.

Messi was last off the bus and first onto the pitch for the warm up and received the loudest reception while Mbappe was cheered loudly by the French supporters massed behind a goal.

The World Cup final is the 64th match of the tournament for which around £180 billion has been spent on to stage by Qatar.

Tickets were being sold on the black market for up to £5,000 a few hours before kick-off.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who was present at the last World Cup final and celebrated with players in the locker room when France beat Croatia 4-2, is at the Lusail stadium this time around too.

About 45 minutes before kickoff, Macron was chatting in the VIP section with Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who played for four seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, and France midfielder Paul Pogba, who has had to watch the entire World Cup from the sidelines due to an injury.

Pogba scored in the final when France won the 2018 World Cup but was not fit for selection at this tournament.

In a poignant moment before kick-off, fans were shown a tribute on stadium screens to past World Cup winners who have died since the last tournament in 2018 and these included England’s Roger Hunt and Nobby Stiles who died in October 2020.

But a better moment for any England fan inside the stadium was when Sir Geoff Hurst’s third goal in the World Cup Final of 1966 was screened on the four giant screens.

Lionel Messi set a new record for most World Cup appearances as he lined up for the 26th – and probably last – time.

Angel Di Maria, who missed the 2014 final defeat to Germany through injury, replaced Leandro Paredes in the only change made by head coach Lionel Scaloni from their semi-final win over Croatia.

Reigning champions France were dealing with an illness within their camp, but Didier Deschamps was able to welcome back both Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot into the starting line-up after the pair were ruled out of the semi-final win over Morocco.

That meant Ibrahima Konate and Youssef Fofana dropped to the bench as Les Bleus named the same XI that started the 2-1 quarter-final win over England.