At one point in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final, it seemed as if Argentina was going to cruise to a convincing win over France. However, Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe had other plans in mind, as he notched a double in the second half to send the match to extra time.
After Messi provided Argentina with a 3-2 lead in the second extra time period, Mbappe managed to respond with a penalty goal to knot up the score at 3-3.
Even after Mbappe leveled the match up at 3-3, Messi, as he told Ole, still had a gut feeling that Argentina would still go on to win the World Cup.
“I was very calm even in the final in general,” Messi said. “I don’t know why I felt we were going to be champions. Nor the blow of the 3-3, which was the hardest of all, because it was 3-2 in the extra time almost at the end and to be tied again and how it was, that was the hardest thing. Even that didn’t make me doubt.
“Even during the whole World Cup, the match against the Netherlands was the one I was most afraid of. Because, well, that they scored the goal in the last minute with the play they did, which nobody expected, was terrible. But apart from that, the truth is that I was very calm, just as I said that I felt that God was going to give me a World Cup, I also felt that this World Cup was going to be.”
In the end, Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty shootout goal clinched Argentina its third-ever World Cup tournament win.
Messi bolstered his legacy at the tournament, from winning the World Cup Golden Ball award to becoming the first player to score at least one goal in all rounds of a single World Cup knockout stage.
