Lionel Messi, the greatest player of all time, has lifted the golden trophy of the World Cup. In a thrilling final, Lionel Messi’s Argentina beat France on penalties. As a result, Argentina are now the world champion after 36 years.
In 1986, Diego Maradona led Argentina to win their second world cup. And 36 years later, his successor Lionel Messi stepped forward to help Argentina win their 3rd World Cup.
How was Lionel Messi’s performance throughout the world cup?
Lionel Messi has become the only player in the world to score in every stage of a single world cup. Lionel Messi scored in all the stages of the competition, from the group round to the final.
But the starting wasn’t smooth enough for Lionel Messi. Argentina came to Qatar with a 36-match unbeaten streak. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia stunned them in the first game. However, Argentina recovered well and won the remaining two matches to qualify for the round of 16. Lionel Messi had two goals in the group round and registered one assist on his name.
The Qatar World Cup is Messi’s 5th world cup, but he hasn’t scored a goal in the knockout round before. But this time, Messi scored three more goals for Argentina to carry the team into the final.
At the age of 35, Lionel Messi was fighting with Kylian Mbappe[23] for Golden Boot. Before the final, both Messi and Mbappe netted five goals each.
Messi’s goal tally increased to seven after scoring twice in the final. But Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick last night to win the golden boots with eight goals. However, Lionel Messi received the Golden Ball for being the player of the tournament.
Lionel Messi’s stats in the Qatar World Cup
- Most shots
- Most shots on target
- Most Big Chances created
- Most fouls won
- Most G/A
- Most assists
- 2nd-most goals
- 2nd-most chances created
- 2nd-most touches in opp. box
- 2nd-most passes into opp. box
Messi’s reaction
After winning the world cup, Lionel Messi talked to the TYCsports. He said, “Obviously, I wanted to close my career with this. I can’t ask for anything anymore. Thank God he gave me everything. Closing almost my career like this, it’s impressive.”
However, Messi is not going to retire now. He wants to play more. He said, “I love football, what I do. I enjoy being in the National Team, and the group, and I want to continue living a few more games being a world champion.