Lionel Messi was crowned the ultimate champions of the world as he led Argentina to World Cup glory for the first time since 1986, when his idol Diego Maradona had raised the coveted trophy. However, it was also a night of ultimate suffering for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, as his side first squandered a 2-0 lead in the regular time, and then conceded a3-2 lead in the extra-time to take the game all the way to the penalties.
But Messi tasted glory this time, thanks to the extraordinary heroics of his goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who first made a gigantic 120th minute save to deny France a winner, and then saved Kingsley Coman’s spot-kick in the penalty shootout. The Argentines however could have wrapped the game by 90 minutes, or even the 120, when Messi scored his second of the night in the 108th minute. But some fans are arguing that the PSG superstar’s second goal should have been ruled out and France should have been crowned as the World Cup winners.
Fans spot ’13’ Argentina players on the pitch during Lionel Messi’s
Lionel Messi scored the first goal of the night from the spot to put Argentina into the lead, after his former Barcelona teammate Ousmane Dembele’s challenge from behind on Angle di Maria had the referee pointing at the penalty spot. The Argentina captain kept his cool to slot in his sixth goal of the tournament, and fourth penalty. Di Maria then added a second 13 minutes later, nicely putting the ball in the back of the net from an Alexis mac Allister pass.
But it was a meltdown for Argentina in the final ten minutes of the regular time, as Kylian Mbappe finally came to the party, scoring two goals in two minutes to take the game to the extra time. Argentina players and fans couldn’t believe as they had thrown away two-goal lead for a second time after the Netherlands game in the quarterfinals. However, Lionel Messi had other plans as he came up clutch in the 108th minute of the extra time, to somehow scramble in a third of the night for Argentina from a Lautaro Martinez shot.
Messi pushed the ball in the back of the net after Martinez executed a shot so powerful at Hugo Lloris’ goal that the ‘keeper couldn’t hold the ball and it rebounded in the path of the Argentina captain. While initially the offside was being checked on Martinez, the goal was cleared-off of any illegality and it seemed Argentina were finally winning it in the 120 minutes.
Should Messi's second goal have been disallowed? pic.twitter.com/QX7Zg4bLhr
— Jonathan A (@GenuineJonathan) December 19, 2022
However, some fans feel Messi’s goal in the extra time shouldn’t have stood, since Argentina had 13 players on the pitch before the forward scored the goal. A picture shared by an avid fan on Twitter shows two of Argentina’s substitutes on the pitch rather than the sidelines, who were clearly in a hurry to celebrate even before Messi fired in the goal. The fan then pointed towards a rule which states:
“Goal scored with an extra person on the field of play: If, after a goal is scored, the referee realises, before play restarts, that an extra person was on the field of play when the goal was scored, the referee must disallow the goal if the extra person was:
a player, substitute, substituted player, sent-off player or team official of the team that scored the goal; play is restarted with a direct free kick from the position of the extra person
an outside agent who interfered with play unless a goal results as outlined above in ‘extra persons on the field of play’; play is restarted with a dropped ball”
While many seemed to agree with this fan who brought the rule to notice, others argued that the infringement doesn’t matter that much that the goal should be ruled out. Nonetheless, all the arguments have no significant now whatsoever, as Lionel Messi and co have already taken the World Cup trophy home, along with the Golden Ball won by the Argentine captain himself, the Best Young Player award won by his midfielder Enzo Fernandez and the Golden Glove being honored to none other than Emiliano Martinez.