Two football super stars, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe were embroiled in a game of Russian roulette in an epic World Cup final that held over a billion people spell-bound for over 130 minutes.

In a final which football purists adjudged to be the best produced spell-binding entertainment that culminated in a penalty shootout that saw Argentinal triumph over defending champions, France.

Mbappe refused to be ‘killed’ by Lionel Messi and his Argentine teammates last night. He equalised each time Argentina scored and gave life to France in the dramatic 2022 World Cup final here at the Lusail Stadium. It took Penalties to dethrone him after the match ended 3-3 in what would go down as one of the most interesting and dramatic World Cup finals.

Mbappe scored a hat-trick on the night and only penalty loss by his colleagues stopped him. Lionel Messi lead Argentina to their first World Cup victory since 1986 when another great player, Diego Maradona lifted the trophy. Messi has ended up not only the face of Argentina but also that of the 2022 World Cup. He scored seven goals, two of which were scored last night.

He gave Argentina the lead through a 21st minute penalty and Di Maria increased the tally in the 36th minute. It remained so till the end of first half. Mbappe scored twice, first through a penalty and then a classical volley that made it 2-2.

The stadium rose to salute him, so did President Macron who was at the state box, cheering his team. Messi scored again in the 109 minute of the extra time. Mbappe was not done. He stepped up and equalised three minutes to time through a penalty.

When Messi won the toss to choose a side for the penalty kicks he pointed at the post which had thousands of Argentine fans behind it. And each time a French player was to take a shot the noise was unbelievable. Could it have unnerved the French? It’s all part of the game.

Mbappe scored his but France missed two and Argentina are World Cup champions with a 4-2 penalty shootout win. The fans were wild in celebrating the victory. The sentiment for Messi was tremendous. Everybody wanted him to cap his illustrious career with a World Cup trophy. He did in style last night and so the current world most celebrated player has seemingly justified when he is rated the best.