The Lionel Messi effect
The room that Lionel Messi stayed in during the World Cup is set to be turned into a museum.
Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup after Argentina beat France on penalties in a game where the boy from Rosario scored two goals and converted his penalty.
In addition to team success, it was also one to celebrate personally as the 35-year-old came second in the race for the golden boot and was named as the player of the tournament.
His achievements are now set to be immortalised as journalist, Achraf Ben Ayad, tweeted to say that the University of Qatar space he stayed in will be turned into a “small museum”.
La habitación en la que estaba alojado Leo Messi en la universidad de Qatar durante el mundial se convertirá en un pequeño museo. 👌👌👌🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/0mpgZnIMUX
— Achraf Ben Ayad (@Benayadachraf) December 27, 2022
Argentina’s World Cup campaign got off to the worst possible start after they were beaten 2-1 by Saudi Arabia to end a run of 36 games unbeaten heading into the tournament.
Lionel Scaloni’s side recovered quickly though and escaped the group after victories against Mexico and Poland before facing difficult opposition in the knockouts.
A 2-1 win in the round of 16 against Australia led to a heated quarter final showdown against the Netherlands. Argentina surrendered a two-goal lead in the last minute of normal time before going all the way to penalties where they were able to hold their nerve.
The semi finals proved to be the most comfortable of their World Cup run, comfortably beating Croatia 3-0 to set up a final clash against the reigning World Cup champions.
It looked as though they would cruise their way to the trophy after taking a 2-0 first half lead following a dominant display, but Kylian Mbappé scored twice in the space of 90 seconds to equalise.
Messi restored Argentina’s lead in extra time again but Mbappé sealed his hat trick with a penalty to to the game to a shootout decider.
Thankfully, for Messi’s sake, Argentina emerged victorious and secured their first World Cup in 1986.
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