Argentine Lionel Messi added to the most important title, which is to win the World Cup for the first time in his career, by winning the Ballon d’Or as the best player of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, whose title went to the his country on Sunday at the expense of France on penalties.
Messi deserved this title after giving his country their first world title since 1986 by scoring seven goals with three assists, after leading him to make up for the shock of their early fall to Saudi Arabia 1-2, so the 35-year-old concluded his fifth and last World Cup adventure in the best way.
And Messi had already won the best player award in 2014, but the joy was not complete because he lost the final against Germany 0-1 after the extension, but this time the crowning was complete.
Messi was just around the corner to become the first Argentinian to win the finals top scorer award since Mario Kempes scored 6 goals during his country’s first ever coronation campaign in 1978, but Frenchman Kylian Mbappe denied that with the his hat-trick in the end.
He also prevented the Argentine from joining Italians Paolo Rossi (1982) and Salvatore Schillaci (1990) as the only players to pick up the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards, noting that he has started picking the best player in the finals starting from the 1982 edition .
Mbappe was crowned top scorer of the World Cup with 8 goals, a number not reached since the 2002 tournament, when Brazil’s Ronaldo was crowned top scorer of the tournament and scored twice in the final against Germany.
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was crowned best goalkeeper after starring in World Cup matches and penalties, which gave Tango’s team victory over the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and then France in the final.
Argentine Enzo Fernandez won the best young player award at the World Cup.
