Argentina’s Lionel Messi lifts the World Cup trophy alongside teammates as they celebrate after winning the FIFA World Cup.

The Argentina-France final was a dream match-up for many football fans even before the 64 matches played at the 2022 World Cup, and it did become the best World Cup final with an estimated 26 million viewers. In the December 18th’s football match in Lusail, Qatar, Argentina beat the defending champion, France, via a dramatic penalty shootout to win the title.

Argentina won their third World Cup, it having been 36 years since Maradona led his national team to win the World Cup in 1986. One of the reasons that the match invited the attention of the world was thanks to two of the world’s best players, Messi, who had achieved everything in football other than the World Cup, and Mbappé, a rising star who has already won the World Cup as a teenager, four years ago.

The match seemed to play out as normal, with Argentina looking as though they would win the final easily after making two goals, including a penalty by Messi, without allowing any goal for France. Nearly 10 minutes away from the final whistle, Team France could not let it go and picked up steam, as the match became one of the most exciting games ever before the world’s eyes. Mbappé’s three goals were not enough to call who was the winner, though, as Argentina won the shootout 4-2 on penalties following a 3-3 draw after extra time.

Considering the fact that the average number of goals per game in the premier league is less than 3, a game played with six goals, three on each side, is a very dramatic occurrence, especially during the highly anticipated World Cup final. People flocked to social media to share their reactions to the match, where Usain Bolt tweeted, “Best World Cup final ever,” and former England international Alan Shearer said on BBC, “I’ve never seen anything like it, and I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like it again,” a sentiment shared by many viewers around the world. Lionel Messi had won the last piece he needed to be the greatest football player of all time.