LUSAIL STADIUM, Qatar – The global community is going crazy over the results of the FIFA 2022 Qatar championships. The internet is going gaga. Argentina defeats France in a nail-biting championship game that is sealed by a penalty kick from Gonzalo Montiel.

Thanks to that exhilarating shootout on penalty, Argentina ultimately wins the 2022 World Cup Qatar. It was an edge of seat encounter between the two.

Following a 3 to 3 stalemate after extra time, Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty kick gave the South American team a 4 to 2 victory in the shootout on Sunday at Qatar’s 89,000-seat Lusail Stadium.

After Emiliano Martinez of Argentina stopped a shot from France’s Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni missed the target, Montiel scored the game-winning goal.

Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi, 35, solidified his already illustrious career by leading his team to their first World Cup victory since 1986 and third overall in the thrilling match, one of the greatest finals of all time.

His performance on Sunday marked a record-breaking 26th World Cup appearance—a total he won’t be adding to after declaring this would be his final World Cup—and it capped a strong performance at the tournament in Qatar.

Messi, though, ruled out a probable retirement from the national team for the time being after the game.

“I want to continue competing as a world champion for a few more games. I was fortunate to win every championship I was eligible for throughout my career; this one was the only one I was not eligible for. I intend to bring this one to Argentina so that everyone can enjoy it.

Mbappe’s hat-trick was ineffective for the defending champions.

Following a good start by coach Lionel Scaloni’s team in the opening phases, Messi gave Argentina a 1 to 0 lead in the 23rd minute from the penalty spot.

After a sweeping series of passes in the 36th minute, Angel Di Maria added a second to conclude a commanding first-half performance against a lifeless France. This was the first time in the knockout stage that Di Maria had been named to the starting eleven.

In the second half, France struggled even more as they attempted to retain the World Cup for the first time since Brazil did so in 1962.

With 10 minutes left, the European powerhouses finally made a shot on goal in the 68th minute after waiting until Kylian Mbappe scored twice in the space of two minutes to put Argentina on the back foot and force extra time.

The 23-year-first old’s goal was a penalty kick, and his second came after a deft pass from Marcus Thuram, a replacement, and was a spectacular volley.

Before the break, coach Didier Deschamps made a quick decision to attempt to shift the game’s flow, and Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani were introduced.

As the end of regulation came near, Mbappe’s brilliance left Argentina holding on, but the game saw sawed once again when Messi touched in his second goal to restore Argentina’s advantage in the 108th minute.

With two minutes of added time remaining, Mbappe, not to be outdone, had time to complete his hat-trick with a penalty and force a shootout.

Mbappe, a colleague of Messi’s at French club team Paris Saint-Germain, finished the tournament as the competition’s leading scorer with eight goals overall thanks to his extraordinary efforts.

After Geoff Hurst for England in 1966, he is the only other person to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

With two unanswered goals going into the break, Argentina dominated the first half of a game that looked like it would be won by a team that would simply steamroll over a sleepy French team.

Mbappe, though, came to life in the second half, scoring two goals in the space of two minutes to tie the game at one goal each at the end of regulation. His first goal came from the penalty spot in the 80th minute.

Messi scored his second goal in the 108th minute, beating French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, but Mbappe responded from the spot in the 118th minute to force a penalty shootout. The action continued throughout extra time.