A World Cup final for the ages. Argentina and France made it a special night of football at the Lusail Stadium, but it was Lionel Messi's team that took home the biggest prize. Messi scored twice while Kylian Mbappe netted a hat trick as the match finished 3-3 after extra time. It took penalties to decide the winner and Argentina converted all their shots to win the final 4-2.
ESPN's By The Numbers has the best stats from the final:
1
Messi became the first player to win the Golden Ball award multiple times. Before 2022, he claimed the trophy for the best player of the tournament in Argentina's runner-up finish in 2014.
1
Messi is the only player to score in the group stage, round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal and final in a single edition of the men's World Cup.
1
Messi has won every competition where he has made multiple appearances. The only competition Messi has played in and not won is the Coupe de France. He's played only one game in that competition.
2
Only two players have scored 5-plus goals and created 20-plus chances in a FIFA World Cup tournament (since 1966) -- Messi in 2022 and Maradona in 1986.
21
Messi's 21 total World Cup goal contributions (13 goals, 8 assists) are the most by a man at the tournament since 1966.
5
Messi became the first player to win five Player of the Match awards at a single men's World Cup.
13
Messi is tied with France's Just Fontaine for the fourth-most goals in World Cup history.
26
Messi has scored 26 goals in major international tournaments for Argentina (13 in World Cup, 13 in Copa America), the most of any South American player in history across the two competitions, overtaking Ronaldo Nazario (25).
26
Messi also became the record holder for most games played at the men's World Cup.
No player had ever won FIVE man of the match awards at a single World Cup before.
Messi did it at 35 �� pic.twitter.com/30RPUpWcXD
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 18, 2022
35
At 35, Messi became the oldest player to score multiple goals (two) in a World Cup final.
100
Messi now has scored 100 career goals with his right foot.
6
Angel Di Maria has scored six of his eight major-tournament goals for Argentina in the knockout stage (also scored in the 2021 Copa America final).
1
Argentina's Enzo Fernandez has led all players for touches (118), successful passes (77) and tackles (10) in the final against France.
His 10 tackles were the most of any player in a World Cup final since Gennaro Gattuso in 2006 (15).
3
Argentina's Lionel Scaloni is only the third manager in history to win both the World Cup (2022) and Copa America (2021) after Mario Zagallo (1970 World Cup, 1997 Copa America) and Carlos Alberto Parreira (1994 World Cup, 2004 Copa America), both of whom did so with Brazil.
2
Argentina became the second team to win the FIFA World Cup after losing their opening game of the tournament. Spain lost to Switzerland in their first match of the 2010 World Cup.
8
Mbappe's eight goals in this World Cup are most by a player age 23 or younger in a single World Cup all time. He overtook James Rodriguez in 2014, Mario Kempes in 1978 and Pele in 1958 -- all of these players had six goals each.
7
Mbappe has scored seven career World Cup knockout stage goals. He overtook Pele (six) for the most by a man before turning 24 years old.
With Kylian Mbappé's #FRA game tying goal in the 81st minute, this became the first time in Men's #WorldCup Final history that a goal was scored in consecutive minutes. pic.twitter.com/yUfAUmKCNo
- ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 18, 2022
4
Mbappe has scored more World Cup final goals than any other player.
2
Mbappe became only the second player to score a hat-trick in the men's World Cup final after Geoff Hurst did it for England against Germany in 1966.
1
France became the first side on record not to attempt a single shot in the first half of a World Cup final.
172
The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup has seen 172 goals being scored. This is the most number of goals ever scored in a World Cup edition, overtaking 1998 and 2014 each with 171 goals.
5
There were five penalty shootouts at the 2022 World Cup, the most for any edition in the competition.
(Stats courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information)