Magical Lionel Messi had an instant impact on the final of the FIFA World Cup here in Qatar after he fired a penalty to the back of the net to grant Argentina an advantage in the 21st minute of the match.
With the goal, Messi went level with legendary Pele in the number of goals (12) scored at the World Cup. The goal meant that Messi had his hands firmly on the golden boot as well with 6 goals.
The penalty was earned by none other than Angel Di Maria who had Dembele on tenterhooks since the beginning of the game. With France tucked in a compact shape, the winger was forced to do the defensive work and came up short against the Argentine.
The second goal was created via a beautiful move that started deep in the Argentine territory with Messi’s pass providing the finesse. In the end, it was Di Maria again who found himself in the thick of things as he calmly slotted the ball past Lloris after receiving a gently rolled ball from MacAllister.
La Albiceleste were off the blocks swiftly and attacked the French box within the first 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the defending champions were happy to allow Argentina have the ball.
Argentina had the first crack at the French goalpost when previous match hero Julian Alvarez placed one for MacAllister who let it fly from outside the box, straight into the cupping hands of Lloris.
The French camp had a tumultuous 48 hours leading into the World Cup final. A serious bout of illness and minor injuries meant that several players were having a race against time to get fit for, arguably, the biggest game of their careers.
Deschamps decided to make two changes to the lineup from the one that played against Croatia. Defender Dayot Upamecaon and midfielder Adrien Rabiot replaced Ibrahima Konate and Youssouf Fofana.
As for Argentina, Scalnoi brought his big match player Ángel Di María in place of Leandro Parades as the only change. With Ousmane Dembele not tracking back and Tchoumaeni expected to be loitering high up the pitch, Scaloni’s plan was to overload the left side with Kounde teaming up with Di Maria.
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