Lionel Messi-led Argentina ended a 36-year title drought by defeating defending champions France in a thrilling World Cup final in Qatar.
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Argentina was waiting for the title with the goals of Messi and Di Maria leading until 80 minutes in the final at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
But in the 80th and 81st minutes of the game, Kylian Mbappe, the French star, turned the game around by scoring a pair of goals in just 2 minutes.
After that, as there were no more goals in the allotted time, the game went into extra time. In the extra time, Messi's goal led to Argentina. After that, Mbappe brought the team back to parity with a goal from the penalty.
After 120 minutes of play, the score line was Argentina 3-3 France. A tiebreaker is played to determine the champion team. Argentina won the World Cup for the third time by beating France 4-2 in the penalty shootout.
Argentina star Di Maria said about the suffocating situation of the final match, "I felt the whole world was falling apart." And it (the World Cup) is leaving us. When we were talking to the boys, it seemed on the one hand - the World Cup is leaving us. On the other hand, it seemed that we did not lose in the finals in which I scored. So I was like, we won't lose. These were going around in my head.
What did captain Messi say to his teammates before the final? In response to such questions, Di Maria said, 'He spoke very calmly and naturally. As the 11 of us moved on, he spoke little. I don't even remember at all. It was not like the Copa America. We all knew what we were playing for.
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