The two superpowers of football, Argentina and France, will meet in the final of the Qatar World Cup. Both teams have won the World Cup twice. Now they are fighting for the third title. The final match will start at 9 pm on Sunday at the iconic Lucille Stadium.
If France wins, it will be the feat of winning two consecutive World Cups, and if Argentina wins, the World Cup will be the biggest in Messi’s hands. Lionel Messi’s past stats against the French could give him courage before he takes the field. Standing in front of such a moment, let’s take a look at the statistics.
Who is ahead in the statistics of the two teams:
Argentina is playing in the final for the sixth time. In 1930, Argentina played in the final of the inaugural World Cup, where they lost 4–2 against Uruguay. In 1978, the team tasted the title after defeating the Netherlands 3-1 and West Germany 3-2 in 1986. In 1990 and 2014, they lost 1-0 to the Germans and their dream of winning the third World Cup was broken.
Argentina has lost just one of their last 42 matches in international football, in their first match of the current World Cup against Saudi Arabia. They won 29 games in this journey, the remaining 12 were draws.
Argentina has scored 12 goals so far in Qatar World Cup. Their highest in a single campaign since 14 goals in their 1986 title win.
Lionel Messi is playing in the World Cup final for the second time. His team lost 1-0 against Germany in 2014. The best forward of all time has won all possible club and national team titles except the World Cup.
France is playing in the World Cup final for the fourth time. In 1998, they won the title by beating Brazil 3-0 in the first-ever title-deciding match. The French later lost to Italy in a tiebreaker in the 2006 final. The team beat Croatia 4-2 last season to win their second title.
France is the first team since Brazil in 2002 to play in two consecutive World Cup finals. The team is in front of the team to become the third team in history to become two consecutive champions. Italy won two consecutive titles in 1934 and 1938 and Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
Kylian Mbappe has scored 5 goals in 6 matches in the Qatar World Cup. He surpassed his own 4 goals scored on the way to winning the title of France in 2018. The 23-year-old Mbappe scored a total of 9 goals in 13 matches at the World Cup.
Messi now holds the record for 11 goals for Argentina in the World Cup. If he scores a goal in the final, he will sit next to Brazilian legend Pele in the list of highest goal scorers.
France’s Hugo Lloris is on the verge of becoming the first captain to win two World Cups. It was under his leadership that France took home the world title in the last edition.
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Hugo Lloris will become the record holder of the most matches as a goalkeeper in the World Cup if he reaches the final. He will surpass Germany’s Manuel Neuer’s feat of playing 19 matches.
Argentina and France have met three times before in the World Cup. While the Albiceleste has won twice, the French have won once.
Argentina won 1-0 against France in the inaugural tournament in 1930. Then in 1978, the Latin American team won by 2-1. The two teams last met on the World Cup stage four years ago. The French beat Argentina 4-3 in the last sixteen in Russia.
In all, France and Argentina have faced each other a total of 12 times. Of these, Argentina has won six times, while France has won only three matches. The remaining three matches were drawn. However, the French had the last laugh in the last match between the two teams. France won 4-3 in the second round of the 2018 World Cup thanks to Kylian Mbappe- Antoine Griezmann.