Rare genius: Messi stamped his authority on Qatar 2022 in a manner only the most gifted could have.
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On the grandest of all stages, Lionel Messi conjured up an act of magic for ages. How he won Argentina the World Cup in 2022 will remain one of the greatest stories in sport.He scored two goals in the final against France in what many regard as the finest World Cup game of all time. That was the game in which Kylian Mbappe performed an unforgettable hat-trick. Only Messi could have made the young Frenchman look the second best on that night in Doha.That final, which ended 3-3 after extra time and thus went into the shootout, was watched by about 1.5 billion people across the world. Those fans would have felt the match, and the World Cup, was Argentina’s when they saw Messi’s men go 2-0 up after 36 minutes. He had opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Angel Di Maria netted the second. The Argentines had that two-goal lead late into the game, till the 80th minute. But within a space of a couple of minutes, Mbappe scored twice to force extra time. Messi, though, made it 3-2 with 12 minutes remaining.Mbappe, however, converted the penalty to pave the way for more penalties.In the shootout, Messi and Mbappe took the first kicks for their teams, and scored, too. But, the misses from Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni proved costly for France.It was only fitting though that Argentina triumphed.
