One could cut the tension with a knife as France and Argentina battled it out for their third World Cup crown in Lusail. In the end, Argentina clinched the encounter in the penalty shootout (4-2) after the pulsating 120 minutes ended in a 3-3 deadlock.

Argentina ruled the first half of the match as France struggled to have even a single shot at the goal. But Kylian Mbappe ensured a French fightback to make it even stevens for France in the second half. At 90 minutes, the two teams were locked at 2-2.

The first goal came from a spot kick (80'), and the second strike came soon in the 81st minute, compelling Argentina fans across the world to bite their fingernails.

The tournament so far

Argentina have seen both the lows and highs during the tournament. And the Saudi Arabia debacle seems to be now an aberration, a minor blip, as teams like Mexico, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands and Croatia fell by the wayside.

Sunday’s match, the grand finale against France in Lusail, was Messi’s last match for Argentina. “The most important thing is to enjoy Messi because this is the World Cup final,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni had said prior to the epic showdown.

France were billed as the favourites. And they earned it with Kylian Mbappe being the one who was meant to destroy Argentina. Antoine Griezmann has been playing like the way he did when Les Bleus won the Cup in Russia, a compact defence, and some very talented midfielders.

Mbappe is being seen as the player who will take over Messi’s mantle of the best player in the world. The heir apparent as they say. Before the finals, both had five goals and were in the running for the Golden Ball award as well the Golden Boot.

Also, France had not lost their last 10 World Cup matches against South American nations, winning six, drawing four. Their last loss, incidentally, was at the hands of Argentina, going down 1-2 in the 1978 group stage.

“France will look to stop Messi from getting the ball behind the midfield and Argentina will have to stop Mbappe from making those runs,” Arsene Wenger said at a news conference of the Fifa technical study group before the match.

Scaloni scoffed at the idea that it would be a match between two Ms. “It’s not Mbappe vs Messi. ... both the teams have enough influential players to make the difference.”