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Argentina have history with a historic, dramatic third World Cup crown (1978, 1986, 2022) - their first in 36 years. They beat reigning champions France in the FIFA World Cup final after extra time and penalties. France were completely subdued by Argentina in the first half during which Argentina scored two goals - Messi scored the first for Argentina in the 23rd minute from the penalty spot, and Angel Di Maria netted Argentina's second in the 36th minute. France came alive in the 80th minute of play with Kylian Mbappe converting from the penalty spot and scoring another in the 81st. The game went into extra time, with France seeming thirsty for another goal. Messi stepped up for Argentina and scored another goal in the 109th minute. Drama ensued as France was awarded a penalty, which Mbappe converted in the 118th minute to make the game level on 3-3.  Coming to the penalty shootout, Messi and Mbappe took the first for their respective teams, which they both netted. Penalty shoot-o

Two-time world champions Argentina are en route to their sixth final in World Cup history, and this is largely thanks to Lionel Messi's excellence and Julian Alvarez's decisiveness in front of goal. Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 to reach their second World Cup final in eight years. Messi put Argentina on the path to victory in the 34th minute  with a perfectly struck penalty, and brilliantly created Argentina's third goal. Julian Alvarez scored Argentina's second goal of the night by taking Messi's header  just inside Croatian territory and embarking on a slaloming run and into the Livakovic's net. Messi's assist for Alvarez's second goal was superb; he twisted and turned past Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol in an eye-catching move before putting it on a plate for Alvarez to score . For the fourth time in this FIFA World Cup, Messi has been named Man of the Match, a feat achieved by no other player in the current World Cup tournament. He has scored goals in

Argentina have made it through to the quarterfinals of the FIFA 2022 World Cup in a 2-1 win over Australia in the round of 16, to a greater extent thanks to a top notch performance from their captain and talisman Lionel Messi. Argentina struggled in the first thirty-five minutes of the Argentina vs Australia eight finals, with Messi quickly surrounded by the Socceroos every time he had the ball on his feet. However, Messi managed to keep Argentina's World Cup trophy alive in his 100th game as Argentina captain and 1,000th appearance in professional football with a much needed goal. A goal that happened to be Messi's first in the knockout stage of a World Cup. Messi is now only one goal shy of Gabriel Batistuta's record of 10 World Cup goals. Messi's performance was truly outstanding, as he completed 90% of his passes, created four chances and had nine touches in the opposition area. This has been rated Messi's best game so far in this World Cup. Messi is now t

Argentina came into their second World Cup group fixture knowing a win was the only guarantee to keep alive their hopes of progressing past the group stage after their shocking 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their first fixture. Lionel Messi kept he and Argentina's dream of winning the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Mexico at the Lusail stadium. Messi scored for Argentina in the 64th minute, from outside the box giving Argentina much needed hope to carry on.  "That's what they came for," Peter Drury said after Messi's goal. " The Magic Man !' One more Messi moment and Argentina are alive."  Enzo Fernandez further cemented Argentina's lead with a curling right-foot shot from a Messi assist in the 87th minute.  Messi has now equaled Diego Maradona's Argentina record of 21 matches and eight goals at the World Cup.  Messi has won all but one title in his career, and that is the World Cup. He came closest to winning it in 2014 when Argentina pla

On Saturday, November 19 2022, football fans worldwide were blown away by a photo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing chess.  Both Messi and Ronaldo took to Instagram to share the picture, which sees the legendary duo playing chess on Louis Vuitton briefcases. Messi equally shared the picture on his Facebook page. The picture went viral pretty fast on Instagram, racking up more than 10 million likes across Ronaldo and Messi's accounts in just over 30 minutes. Both players captioned the photo "Victory is a State of Mind." The picture was taken by the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz as an ad campaign for Louis Vuitton. Fans have long longed to see the duo play together. There's a possibility that Ronaldo and Messi face each other in the Qatar World Cup. Argentina plays its first match in the tournament against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, and Portugal against Ghana on Thursday. In his explosive interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV,  Ronaldo talked about

On Wednesday October 5, PSG faced Benfica in a Champions League fixture and had to settle for a draw due to an own goal by midfielder Danilo Pereira who turned an Enzo Fernandez cross into his own net. Messi gave PSG the lead in the 22nd minute with a curling shot from an interplay with Neymar and Mbappe. Messi has now scored against 40 different opponents in the Champions League - Benfica being the 40th. Neymar's spectacular overhead kick in the 49th minute saw him hit the woodwork, and later attempted a free kick that was saved by Benfica keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. PSG lead in their group, on seven points with second-placed Benfica, Juventus is third and Maccabi Haifa last. Maccabi Haifa suffered another defeat in their third Champions League fixture for the season. PSG and Benfica meet again in Paris next week.

Argentina have extended their remarkable unbeaten streak in their penultimate World Cup warmup game to 35 matches over 3 years, with a 3-0 win over Jamaica on Tuesday night. Messi who was twice accosted by fans for signatures and selfies scored twice after Julian Alvarez's opener for Argentina in the 13th minute. Messi was brought in from the bench in the 55th minute of play and he went on to score in the 86th minute after a give-and-go with Giovani Lo Celso. A few minutes later, he scored another on free kick after being fouled by Adrian Mariappa just outside the penalty area. Messi has now scored 90 goals in 164 international appearances. “You have to enjoy Messi,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “No matter your country, everyone does. I’m his coach, but I would buy a ticket to see him. “There are no words to describe what he is,” Álvarez said. “Playing five, 10 minutes or all the match, he manages to do amazing things.” Argentina play their ultimate pre-World Cup fr

Sunday's Ligue 1 fixture between Lyon and PSG saw PSG triumph thanks to a Lionel Messi goal. Messi found the back of the net in the fifth minute of the game, thanks to a Neymar assist. With this goal, Lionel Messi now overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most non-penalty goals, despite having played 150 games less. Messi has now scored 672 non-penalty goals, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 671. Earlier this week, the Argentinian forward achieved another feat when he became the first player to score in 18 consecutive Champions League seasons, once more overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in total - 699 goals in 941 games in all competitions for four different clubs, while Messi has scored 688 goals in 822 games in all competitions for two clubs - Barcelona and PSG.

Lionel Messi was in scintillating form at the Finalissima - a contest between the champions of Europe and the champions of South America - as Argentina comfortably beat Italy 3 - 0. Messi, Di Mari and Matrtinez were a constant menace to the Italian defense with the seamless interplay. Messi's eye-catching dplay featured two assist, the first for Lautaro Martinez, who provided an assist for Argentina's second goal through Di Maria, and his second for substitute Paulo Dybala who scored Argentina's third goal in injury time. Since June 2019, Argentina are unbeaten in 32 matches, having won their first Copa America since 1993, qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, and now, winning the Finalissima. Messi was thrown into the air by his jubilant teammates once the final whistle was blown. After the game, Messi said: "Today was a nice test because Italy are a great team. We knew it was going to be a nice game and a nice setting in which to be champions. "It was a b

For the fourth time in the last five seasons, Manchester City have been crowned Premier League champions. A dramatic 3-2 win over Aston Villa on Sunday saw Manchester City finish a point ahead of second-place Liverpool in the final game of the season.  Manchester City were down 2-0 when they scored three goals in five second-half minutes to secure victory, sending the Etihad stadium into delirium. Aston Villa's goals were scored by Matty Cash and former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho. City substitute Ilkay Gundogan scored twice, either side of Rodri's goal in an epic five-minute comeback, with only 15 minutes left to the end of the game. Gundogan scored the first in the 76th minute, Rodri scored the second closely after, and the winning goal came from Gundogan in the 81st minute. Had City failed to win, Liverpool would have been champions. The 2021/22 Premier League title is Guardiola's 11th trophy in six years since coming to England. "We are legends. We will

A hat-trick of hat-tricks was the result produced by a scintillating Messi-Mbappe-Neymar trio versus Clermont on Saturday. Neymar and Mbappe each netted three times, with a trio of assists from Messi to achieve a 6-1 victory versus Clermont.  Messi's first assist came from the edge of the penalty area as he made a pass to Neymar who went on to score and give PSG a 1-0 lead. Messi leads the leagues with assists this season, with a total of 13 assists to his name. After the game, Mbappe told Canal Plus France: "The connection on the field with Messi and Neymar, it's a shame it's only happening now."

Argentina captain Lionel Messi who scored in Friday' 3-0 win over Venezuela says 'many things will change' after the winter World Cup in Qatar. The PSG/Argentina forward turns 35 in June. The scorers in the Argentina vs Venezuela encounter were Nico Gonzalez, Angel di Maria and Lionel Messi respectively. He said: "I don't know what I will do after the World Cup. I am thinking about what is coming. After Qatar, I will have to reassess many things." He also made it clear that his doubts had nothing to do with his past frustrations playing for Argentina. "It has been a while that I am happy here, since before winning the Copa. I am thankful for all this they make me feel every time I come to Argentina," Messi said. He was asked about continuing with the national team after Qatar, and said: "I don't know, the truth is I don't know. "I think about that is coming, which is close, Ecuador (on Tuesday). The preparation matches in Ju