As Gonzalo Montiel stepped up to take the winning penalty in the 2022 World Cup final, he was shooting for someone else’s legacy.
For the 120 minutes before the shootout, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, already widely considered two of the very best in the world, had treated approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide to arguably the greatest final in the tournament’s history. Messi served the starter with an inch-perfect assist to Angel Di Maria and doubled the lead before half-time from the spot. Mbappe delivered the main course with a second-half brace, with his second counted among the greatest goals in the tournament’s history. Messi and Mbappe scored one apiece in extra time to take it to penalties. For a sport that is so defined by collective achievements, these two had transcended the moment with a pair of career-defining performances.
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With Argentina’s fourth and final spot-kick, Montiel swept the ball into the bottom left corner and collapsed onto his feet, delivering Messi the World Cup trophy and cementing him as the greatest player of his era and, perhaps, of all time.
Messi’s teammates lifted him onto their shoulders and paraded him around. It was the defining moment in a career that has seen seven Ballons d’Or, five Champions League trophies and 12 league titles. If Messi had decided to call time on his career to waltz off into the December sun of Rosario, Argentina, his hometown, few outside Paris would have blamed him.
Instead, he went on to win Ligue 1 as part of a frontline featuring Mbappe and Neymar, moved to Inter Miami, and got his tenure there started off with an instantly-iconic freekick goal in his debut.
If Messi is presented with world football’s most prestigious individual award later
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