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35-year-old PSG/Argentina Lionel Messi was crowned 2022 Best FIFA Men's Player at the Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 ceremony held in Paris on Monday, February 27. This is the second time Messi is winning the award since its inception in 2016, and now joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski as two-time winners. French duo Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema came second and third respectively. Mbappe for his World Cup heroics being top scorer and first person to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final since Sir Geoff Hurst; Benzema thanks to his key role in guiding Real Madrid to Champions League victory. Messi won the award thanks to his Qatar World Cup glory, in addition to scoring 18 goals and recording six assists on international level. On receiving the award, he said: “I’d like to express thanks to my team-mates, to Scaloni [Argentina coach] and without them I wouldn’t be here. My coach, he is part of this victory as well. I’d like to pay tribute to all of my team-mates. I...

PSG was able to come back from an early lead by Toulouse in a Saturday League fixture thanks to a Hakimi equalizer and a Lionel Messi lead. Branco van den Boomen scored the opener for mid-table Toulouse in the 20th minute, then Achraf Hakimi drew PSG level before half-time. Neymar and Mbappe were absent due to their injuries. Messi later gave PSG the lead with a left-footed strike around the hour mark. Mbappe will miss PSG's next game in the Coupe de France next week, and the Champions League last-16 first leg against Bayern Munich on February 14th after being ruled out for three weeks with a thigh injury suffered in the 3-1 win at Montpellier on Wednesday. Achraf Hakimi was the player of the match - scoring one, setting up another goal, and still keeping the Toulouse attack at bay.

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...