FULL-TIME: ARGENTINA 3-3 FRANCE (ARGENTINA WIN 4-2 ON PENALTIES).
120′ + 5′ FULL-TIME: ARGENTINA 3-3 FRANCE.
118′ MBAPPE SCORES! He’s equalised again and scored a World Cup final hat-trick! He keeps his eyes on Emiliano Martinez the whole time, and he catches the keeper out. He goes the opposite way to his last spot-kick and fires it into the back of the net. 3-3!
108′ MESSI SCORES! France are all over the place at the back as Argentina knock it through them again. Lautaro Martinez fires his shot across goal, and Lloris parries it away. Messi is hovering just in front of him and touches it in. Upamecano clears it from behind the line, and after a quick VAR check for offside, the goal stands! 3-2 Argentina!
105′ + 2′ HALF-TIME: ARGENTINA 2-2 FRANCE.
90′ + 9′ END OF 90 MINUTES: ARGENTINA 2-2 FRANCE.
81′ MBAPPE EQUALISES! They’ve stunned Argentina! Coman wins the ball back on the halfway line and France quickly switch it out to the left side. Mbappe nods it to Thuram and when it comes back to him, he hits the volley across goal while off balance. Martinez gets a hand to it, but again, can’t stop it from nestling in the corner. It’s a great goal! 2-2!
80′ MBAPPE SCORES! France have pulled one back! It’s a good penalty from Mbappe and gets a lot of power on the shot. Martinez dives the right way and makes slight contact with the ball, but he can’t get enough on it to stop it from nestling in the bottom left corner. 2-1!
79′ PENALTY TO FRANCE! Kolo Muani gets his head down and drives into the box. Otamendi is tight to him and gets the wrong side, dragging the substitute down and the referee points straight to the spot.
50′SAVE! It’s a good interception by Romero, who then picks out Di Maria in space on the left. He picks out De Paul, who is unmarked at the far post, but his volley is straight at Lloris.
45′ + 8′HALF-TIME: ARGENTINA 2-0 FRANCE.
36′DI MARIA SCORES! It’s Upamecano that loses the ball this time, and Argentina break on a quick counter. Messi flicks it past his marker to pick out Mac Allister’s run and he surges into the box before unselfishly squaring it to Di Maria. Lloris rushes out, but the winger’s first-time shot beats him and nestles into the far bottom corner. 2-0 Argentina!
23′MESSI SCORES! It’s as cool as you like from the Argentina captain! He takes a short run-up to the spot, just hesitating in front of the ball as he looks up at Lloris. The keeper dives to his right and can only watch as the ball flies into the opposite corner. 1-0 Argentina!
21′PENALTY TO ARGENTINA! It’s a great switch by Alvarez out to Di Maria on the left, and he checks back from the byline to catch out Dembele. The Frenchman chases him and nudges him from behind inside the box, and the referee points straight to the spot.
4′CHANCE! There are a lot of bodies on the edge of France’s box, but De Paul lifts it over them to pick out Alvarez’s run. He’s off-balance and improvises with the volley, which Lloris saves before the flag goes up.
2‘ Martinez is put under some early pressure by Griezmann when it’s knocked back to him by Otamendi. The Frenchman is bearing down on him quickly, but the keeper clears his lines in time.
1‘ Griezmann gets the World Cup final underway for France!
LINE UPS:
FRANCE SUBS: Alphonse Areola, Steve Mandanda, William Saliba, Benjamin Pavard, Marcus Thuram, Eduardo Camavinga, Youssouf Fofana, Acel Disasi, Kingsley Coman, Ibrahima Konate, Jordan Veretout, Randal Kolo Muani, Matteo Guendouzi.
FRANCE STARTING XI (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris; Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe; Olivier Giroud.
ARGENTINA SUBS: Lisandro Martinez, Juan Foyth, Marcos Acuna, German Pezzella, Gonzalo Montiel, Lautaro Martinez, Exequiel Palacios, Leandro Paredes, Alejandro Gomez, Paulo Dybala, Angel Correa, Franco Armani, Geronimo Rulli, Guido Rodriguez, Thiago Almada.
ARGENTINA STARTING XI (4-4-2): Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico; Angel Di Maria, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister; Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez.
PREMATCH ANALYSIS:
The teams are out on the pitch, the national anthems have been sung, and kick-off is just moments away!
One last game stands between either Argentina or France getting their hands on the World Cup trophy.
Defending champions, France, are making their fourth appearance in the final and are looking to become only the third team to win back-to-back editions of the tournament.
They saw off Morocco 2-0 in their semi-final on Wednesday, and have won all but one of their games to get here (a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia in their final group game). Argentina have reached their sixth final after comfortably beating Croatia 3-0 last time out.
They’ve turned things around since their shock 2-1 opening-day defeat to Saudi Arabia as they look to win the competition for the third time.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup final between Argentina and France at the Lusail Iconic Stadium!
Argentina Won On Penalties!
Congratulations To Messi, At Least He Can Now Leave The Stage For Mbappe To fully Take Charge… What A Game!!!