What an incredible finish of the greatest tournament. World Cup is over and Argentina are new world champions, defeating France in a breathtaking final in Qatar. This means Lisandro Martinez will be the Man United player to return to Carrington as a world champion, with Raphael Varane losing out onto the chance to win the second World Cup in his career. Both players have done an amazing job throughout the past month, although the two centre-backs did not have the same amount of playing time.
Varane proved to be key for France, starting in six out of seven matches throughout the World Cup. In the final, he had to come off late on in the extra-time, as it became obvious to Didier Deschamps that the United player is knackered and had had a small issue due to which he could not continue. On the other hand, Lisandro Martinez did not get the chance to play in the final, as he remained on the bench for the entire 120 minutes. He made five appearances in Qatar, starting two matches and coming off the bench three more times.
After the match had ended, a beautiful moment happened between the two Man United centre-backs. As France players were walking towards getting their medals, Argentina players paved them the way, standing on both sides of them, clapping them as true sportsmen. At that point, Varane and Martinez hugged each other, showing in a single moment just how much quality Man United possess in defence. Starting from this coming week, Man United will have two World Cup winning centre-backs in their team. No small feat at all.
The match itself was thrilling throughout the 120 minutes of play and the penalty shootout. The sheer craziness of everything we had seen on the pitch suggests this match could easily be remembered as the greatest in the history of football. While the matches such as the 1982 semifinal between Italy and Germany was often named ‘Match Of The Century’, this World Cup final eclipsed that. Everything started with Argentina dominating, scoring first through Lionel Messi’s goal from the spot, before Angel Di Maria made it 2-0 just 35 minutes into the match, following a brilliant, inch-precise counter-attack which was started by Messi. It seemed for good 80 minutes that everything was going Argentina’s way, before the stellar Kylian Mbappe made sure we got a real spectacle.
First, it was Nicolas Otamendi who made the penalty, which Mbappe duly converted. Just a minute or two later, Kingsley Coman crossed for Mbappe, who made an awe-inspiring volley to cut through Emiliano Martinez and make it 2-2. In the extra-time, we got more of the same spectacle. After a riotous attack, Lionel Messi managed to get the ball over the line, scoring once more in the great final. But that was not it just yet – as this time Montiel’s handball meant Mbappe was to have another penalty. He scored, completing a hat-trick in the World Cup final for the first time ever, but even that was not enough.
Argentina somehow withstood it all, before winning after the penalty-shootout. Mbappe and Messi scored, before Coman and Tchouameni failed to convert for France. That was enough for Lionel Scaloni’s team to finally seal the victory. Congratulations to both Martinez and Varane on how they did for their respective national teams and how they represented Manchester United.
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