Argentina v France, 18 December 2022

Kick-off: 6.00pm local (3.00pm GMT) . FIFA world ranking: Argentina 3, France 4 . Argentina won 4-2 on penalties . After extra time - 2-2 at 90 minutes . Argentina won the World Cup for the third time after 1978 and 1986. . This was Argentina’s sixth World Cup Final; only Germany had now played in more (eight). . South American nations had won seven of the previous ten World Cup Finals against European opposition. . Argentina avoided losing a World Cup Final for the fourth time to equal Germany’s record for the most defeats. . Argentina had now won six of their seven penalty shoot-outs at the World Cup; the only loss was in the 2006 Quarter-final against Germany in Berlin. . Argentina became the second nation to lose their opening game of a World Cup tournament and progress to win the trophy after Spain in 2010. . 14 of the last 16 goals that Argentina have conceded at the World Cup finals have been scored in the second-half (one in extra-time). . Lionel Messi became the first-ever player to play in 26 games at World Cup finals. The previous record holder was Germany’s Lothar Matthäus (25). . Lionel Messi became the first player to score in the group stage, Round of 16, Quarter-final, Semi-final and Final in an edition of the World Cup. Jairzinho scored in all six of Brazil's games at the 1970 tournament but that edition did not include a Round of 16. . Excluding shoot-outs, Lionel Messi equalled the record for the most penalties scored at an edition of the World Cup; also four by Portugal’s Eusébio in 1966 and Rob Rensenbrink of Netherlands in 1978. . Sweden’s Nils Liedholm (35 years and 264 days in 1958 and Zinedine Zidane of France (34 years and 16 days in 2006) were the only two players aged 34 or over to score in a World Cup Final prior to Lionel Messi (35 years and 177 days) and Angel Di Maria (34 years and 308 days). . Aged 44 years and 216 days, Lionel Scaloni became the youngest manager to win the World Cup since fellow Argentinian César Luis Menotti in 1978 (39 years and 246 days). . Reigning champions France failed in their attempt to become the third nation to win consecutive World Cup Finals after Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962). . This was France’s fourth World Cup Final; also 1998, 2006 and 2018. . France had now played in four of the last seven World Cup Finals. . France had won their preceding seven knockout games at World Cup tournaments; only Brazil have achieved a longer such run (nine from 1958 to 1970). . This was France’s first defeat in their last 11 games at the World Cup against South American nations (won six) since their loss to Argentina in 1978. . Didier Deschamps failed in his attempt to become the second manager to win at two World Cup Finals after Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo in 1934 and 1938. . Hugo Lloris became the fourth player to captain a nation in consecutive World Cup Finals after Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1982 and 1986), Diego Maradona (1986 and 1990) and Dunga (1994 and 1998). . Hugo Lloris could have become the first player to captain a nation in consecutive World Cup Final victories. . Kylian Mbappé became the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final after Geoff Hurst in 1966. . With eight goals, Kylian Mbappé became the second player while playing for France to win the Golden Boot at the World Cup after Just Fontaine in 1958. . Aged 23 years and 363 days, Kylian Mbappé became the youngest-ever player to score in more than one World Cup Final. . Kylian Mbappé joined Vavá (1958 and 1962), Pelé (1958 and1970), Paul Breitner (1974 and 1982) and Zinedine Zidane (1998 and 2006) as the only players to score in two World Cup Finals. . Atlético Madrid was the club that was represented by the most players at this World Cup Final (Angel Correa, Nuhuel Molina and Rodrigo De Paul for Argentina. Antoine Griezmann for France). . The attendance of 88,966 was the highest for a World Cup Final since 1994 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (94,194). . This was the first time that a team had a lead of two or more goals at half-time in a World Cup Final since France led Brazil 2-0 at the break in Paris in 1998 (won 3-0). . Eight of the 20 World Cup Finals had now gone into extra-time, including four of the last five. . This was the third World Cup Final to be decided by a penalty shoot-out after 1994 and 2006. . The World Cup Final had now been won 13 times by the team that scored the opening goal (including ten of the last 12). . This was the fourth meeting at the World Cup; Argentina won 1-0 in 1930 and 2-1 in 1978 (both group games) while France won 4-3 in the Round of 16 in 2018. .