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The Times of India

Sport

Siddharth Saxena | TNN

Maradona moment for Messi as Argentina beat France; heartbreak for hat-trick hero Mbappe

Lionel Messi Argentina World Cup Hugo Lloris Kylian Mbappe France Maradona Angel Di Maria Emiliano Martinez Kingsley Coman

LUSAIL STADIUM: Lionel Messi had waited years, ages, millennia too maybe, to be anointed the greatest. He didn't need the World Cup to prove it. But like every other child in this world -- you, me, Maradona -- he wanted it.

He waited and waited, chipping away at greatness, age catching up, pace deserting him, questions swirling, desire ebbing and resurfacing till it all came down to penalties at the food bowl-like Lusail Stadium in the northern fringe of Doha. If it was to be penalties then, another Everest, then so be it. We'll scale this one too.

And in the end, when everyone wept – the Argentines, the French, the 88,996 in the stadium, so many millions across the globe, Diego in the skies above – our man was smiling. It was unwatchable, the detachment, terrifying and otherworldly. It didn't make sense. But it was ordained.

Kylian Mbappe would get a late-minute penalty in extra-time. He doesn't miss those. He doesn't miss, period. It would mean a hat-trick in a World Cup final. It would also mean the plunge of the dagger into the collective psyche of a nation for the third time on Sunday evening here in Doha. Each time Argentina would go ahead, this panther-like prowler of a footballer would drag France back to life.

Just a minute ago, Messi would have thought he had given Argentina that gift they have been yearning for: that strange elixir, a World Cup for a time-warped, once-proud nation. A last, late move that would end with Messi hitting the rebound off a Hugo Lloris parry and Jules Kounde in the net with the ball. Surely now? But then, Mbappe being Mbappe would want otherwise.

Messi would not miss from the spot as the tie-breaker took over. He would convert in the most contemptuous fashion, literally rolling the ball past poor Hugo Lloris.

Emiliano Martinez would guess right – on his left – for Kingsley Coman. Dybala, made to wait for so long in this World Cup, would not fluff his lines. Aurelien Touchameni, a terrific player but overcome with the enormity of the task, would shoot wide.

The rest of the Argentines – it wouldn't matter who – would be cold, clinical, almost as if they've been waiting for a night just like this. It was always theirs in spirit. Now it was theirs by right.

But before all that, Lloris would fly, dive, stretch and parry like a man possessed as Argentina would throw everything at him as the minutes ticked away. Why? Because a 80th-minute penalty by Kylian Mbappe, hit low and hard to Emiliano Martinez's right, had set the final alight. Until then, the game had been running on cruise control after Argentina's early two-goal, first-half lead.

Would this be the game changer this game so badly needed? When substitute Kingsley Coman would dispossess Messi just after and Rabiot would set up Mbappe again for France's terrific, terrific equalizer, it would be.

Then on, it would be so copybook, so history book. So reminiscent of the 1986 World Cup final in Mexico, when trailing 0-2, West Germany had staged the comeback of all time with two quick goals to negate Argentina's early lead in the final. Would this final too, 32 years later, need that kind of a Maradona-like intervention?

1/9:Messi wins World Cup, Argentina beat France on penalties

It would look so, because then the Messi walk would begin. All the moves, all that cutting in past France's shell-shocked and bemused defence all this while – six attempts at Hugo Lloris's goal to just two by France – would suddenly mean for nothing. The final, destiny, the world would all be calling for Messi. Only this time, the first touch would be laboured, the otherwise sure passes unusually heavy.

When Hugo Lloris made a fantastic injury-time save off a venomous Messi shot, it looked like a lost cause. Because suddenly all the control and domination that Argentina had exerted till now vanished in thin air.

France were on the up. It was breath-taking and terrifying. Argentina were chasing the game despite being at par. The shoe was on the other foot.

When Dayot Upamecano made two saves back-to-back within a minute of each other, in the late, fag end of the first period of extra-time to deny substitute Martinez Lautaro twice, the game looked further out of Argentina's grasp.

It all looked so different less than an hour ago. Messi's penalty goal and Angel di Maria's strike off a slick, swift passing move meant that the final was heading uninterrupted Argentina's way, give or take that stray French threat.

Things would begin to bear fruit early. In the 23rd minute, would a dubious-looking penalty decide Messi's coronation, or dilute it? Ousmane Dembele's faintest of touches to Angel di Maria in the penalty box would present Argentina with the lead.

1/7:Macron congratulates Messi, consoles Mbappe
Reuters

The French winger would walk off from the scene of the crime wearing a shell-shocked look on his face, but Szymon Marciniak, the Polish referee, would not take a second to decide, as he would do all three penalties awarded all evening.

Then, the coup de grace! Angel di Maria would find Argentina's early second goal of a sumptuous passing game between Messi, Juilan Alvarez and Alexis MacAllister.

All this while, France seemed content to soak in the early pressure from Argentina, playing the waiting game as if they had tricks in store to unravel later. They braced for Messi as he seemed more involved than ever in the proceedings at the World Cup here, not walking so much now as he was running, getting into the skirmishes in the middle involving Antoine Griezmann and Tchouameni, and leading the moves upfront.

In the 16th minute, Angel di Maria cutting in from the left would hit a loose ball high, after Argentina would steal a move by dispossessing Theo Hernandez on the right. It would set the tone for the evening.

At the hour, the state of the game would be something like this: Angel de Maria would cross from the left. Rodrigo de Paul would play a dummy in the centre. Messi would collect at the far post, dragging Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez and Marcus Thuram with him, the Frenchmen in obvious, open fear, stretching to their most to ensure the effort would hit the side netting of Lloris's post.

Then there would a phase past the hour where France would finally begin to play their game, having only chased much of this final all this while. In the 70th minute, Mbappe would show a flash of his brilliance with a cut into the box and shoot that would beat everybody, flying over close to Emiliano Martinez's goal.

Kingsley Coman and Eduardo Camavinga being introduced would mean Antoine Griezmann and Hernandez's plight in the middle would be ended.

Who would have imagined fortunes would change the way it did? We always knew it was never going to be easy for Argentina. But this difficult? This emotion-shredding, gut-wrenchingly difficult? No, never, it wasn't fair, it wasn't human the way it was being dangled and then taken away, like some Turkish ice-cream vendor in a naughty mood.