"What a swansong", "8th wonder of the world" - Celebrities lose their minds as Lionel Messi wins FIFA World Cup

Celebrities have gone berserk after Lionel Messi completed his major title collection by winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina.

In one of the greatest finals in World Cup history, La Albiceleste secured a 4-2 penalty shootout win over France after a memorable 3-3 draw after 120 minutes. Messi was at the heart of Argentina's performance, scoring the opener from the spot in the 23rd minute.

He then had a hand in his side's second when he played the ball to Alexis Mac Allister, who found Angel Di Maria to score Argentina's second. France equalised through Kylian Mbappe's second-half double. However, Messi was back in the thick of things in the 108th minute, flicking home Lautaro Martinez's wayward shot to put his side back in front.

Mbappe struck back from the spot again to take the final to penalties. The Argentine icon scored his team's opener in the shootout after Mbappe had done likewise for France.

Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni missed their spot-kicks for the French before Gonzalo Montiel secured the FIFA World Cup for Argentina. Messi finally got his hands on the illustrious trophy, with many claiming he has cemented his legacy as the greatest player of all time.

Some even used Messi's victory to compare him with his longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo and suggested that the debate between the duo is over. Messi had five shots, four on target, made three key passes, and created one big chance in a phenomenal performance.

Argentina's Lionel Messi breaks records galore in likely final FIFA World Cup appearance

Lionel Messi became the all-time appearance maker in FIFA World Cup competition, making his 26th in the final. He picked up the Golden Ball for his impressive campaign, scoring seven goals and contributing three assists in seven games.

Messi has become one of six players in history to play at five FIFA World Cup editions. He has also scored the most goals for La Albiceleste in the competition's history, with 13.

The Paris Saint-Germain attacker shares the record number of assists in World Cup history by an Argentine, sharding the record with the iconic Diego Maradona with eight. Lionel Messi also has the most Man of the Match awards in World Cup history with 11.

It has been an astounding tournament for the Argentine great, who now adds the World Cup trophy to his glistening trophy cabinet.

About the author

Matthew is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who has been covering news, rumors and match reports for close to 3 years. Learning creative writing from University of Essex, he combined his skills and passion for football take up writing for the sport professionally.

Matthew always strives to go beyond a story and offer unique and lesser-known insights, while maintaining an unbiased tone in his articles. His reporting exploits at the company have helped him gain a humungous readership of 25 million, with one of his articles raking in a whopping 724,000 reads.

A Manchester United fan since childhood, Matthew admired Sir Alex Ferguson for his loyalty and brave coaching style. His favorite footballer is Thierry Henry, believing the Frenchman to be uniquely talented and charismatic. An ardent Three Lions fan, England's penalty shootout win over Colombia in 2018 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment of all time, and he believes that Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will have a Ballon d’Or duopoly after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He also follows his local EFL League Two clubs AFC Wimbledon and Sutton United, and spends his free time watching and writing about professional wrestling. He also likes to work out, watch movies and go for night outs.

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