Football | Messi's moment (Part 1)

After a fascinating month of turmoil, when some arrogant outsiders threatened football's status quo, the World Cup final will have a familiar feel today as the sport's two super-heavyweights battle it out The third title.

It seemed so long ago that Argentina was on the wrong side of the biggest shock in tournament history when they were statistically beaten by Saudi Arabia, while France, even with shadows, were embarrassed by Tunisia.

Argentina returned to top of their group after a tense final before beating Australia 2-1 in the last 16 and then leading the Netherlands 2-0 in the 10th minute of quarter- final stoppage time before winning on penalties . to win.

They really found their rhythm against Croatia, sweeping a side that had just eliminated Brazil and heading into the final with triumph.

high quality performance

France looked to be the best team of the tournament in their first two group games and recovered from a defeat in Tunisia to beat Poland 3-1 .

They were tested to the limit by England in a high-quality quarter-final and their composure proved the difference in their 2-1 win, although they produced little in the 2-0 semi-final And had to defend a lot - in the end against Morocco, they always looked like they were coming through.

Of course, everything that happened in the last six games was absolutely irrelevant to the team's seventh win at the 88,000 -capacity Lusail Stadium.