2022 FIFA WC final rewind: One year since Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup and completed football
The cameras panned on Lionel Messi. This was supposed to be his night, wasn’t it? The night he completed football. The fulfillment of a career that had until then possessed every trophy – team and individual – except one. But in the 81st minute the smile on Messi’s face was one of embracing the harsh reality. Was this to be another 2014? After all the dazzling showmanship he’d put up on the pitch for the entirety of the tournament, was it all going to end in vain? Had the World Cup just been snatched away from his grasps, again? Was this another harsh reality check of sport not giving two hoots about a happy ending. A few yards from him, the French players were wheeling away in celebration. Kylian Mbappe had equalized for France after Argentina had dominated the entirety of the final.
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