Brazilian legend Pele have asserted that Lionel Messi ‘deserved’ to be a World Cup winner after Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout in Sunday’s final on Sunday.
Pele, a three-time World Cup champion, wrote on Instagram to celebrate the Argentine team.
He wrote; ‘Today, football continues to tell its story, as always, in an enthralling way. Messi winning his first World Cup, as his trajectory deserved’.
Pele also hailed French striker Kylian Mbappe who scored a hat-trick in the final which had ended 3-3 after extra-time before coolly slotting in a penalty in the shootout.
‘My dear friend, Mbappe, scoring four goals in a final. What a gift it was to watch this spectacle to the future of our sport.’
It was an iconic sight that finally — definitively — places the soccer superstar in the pantheon of the game’s greatest players.
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Messi’s once-in-a-generation career is complete: He is a World Cup champion.
Africa Today News, New York reports that in probably the wildest final in the tournament’s 92-year history, Argentina won its third World Cup title by beating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw featuring two goals from the 35-year-old Messi and a hat trick by his heir apparent, France forward Kylian Mbappé.
‘It’s just crazy that it became a reality this way,’ Messi said. ‘I craved for this so much. I knew God would bring this gift to me. I had the feeling that this (World Cup) was the one.’
Amid the chaos inside Lusail Stadium, Mbappé did all he could to emulate Brazil great Pelé as a champion at his first two World Cups. Even scoring the first hat trick in a final since Geoff Hurst for England in 1966.
It wasn’t enough.
Now there’s no debate. Messi joins Pelé — a record three-time World Cup champion — and Diego Maradona, the late Argentina great with whom Messi was so often compared, in an exclusive club of the best soccer players of all time.