From equaling Spain's record to winning Golden Ball twice, Messi & Argentina break big records in FIFA WC

FIFA World Cup 2022: At the iconic Lusail Stadium, one of football's greatest players ever- Lionel Messi achieved his ultimate dream. Argentina and France displayed a mouthwatering summit clash on Sunday as Lionel Messi's Argentina and Hugo Lloris' France gave it their all for the coveted trophy. It was Messi and his Argentina who triumphed in the night on penalties by 4-2 and shattered huge World records after their title win.

Records shattered by Argentina

• Argentina became the second team in history to achieve this feat: Lionel Scaloni's Argentina became the only second team in FIFA World Cups history to win the World Cup after losing in the first game of the tournament. In their opening game of the tournament, Saudi Arabia outclassed Argentina by 2-1. Earlier in 2010, Spain became the first team to win the world title after losing in their opening game in 2010 South Africa. The Spanish side had lost to Switzerland by 0-1
• First non-European nation to win since 2002: Argentina are also the first non-European team to win the crown since Brazil won it in 2002. After that World Cup, only European nations- Italy, Spain, Germany and France have won the title

• Penalty shootout wins extended: The South American nation has also extended its win in a penalty shootout in a FIFA World Cup. La Albiceleste, who defeated Les Bleus in penalties in FIFA World Cup 2022 final have now won six penalty shootouts in the World Cup. The second best are Croatia and Germany with four wins for each of them. 
• The fourth team to win more than 2 WCs: Argentina are now the fourth-only team to win more than two titles on the grandest stage. Brazil (5), Germany (4) and Italy (4) are ahead of Argentina now.

Messi registers huge records

• Clinching Golden Ball twice: Lionel Messi displayed his best in the tournament as he helped La Albicelestes in crucial moments. The 35-year-old was awarded the Golden Ball award (Best Player of the tournament award) in the tournament and became the first and only player to win the award twice in World Cup history. He had earlier won the award in 2014.
• First to Score in all knockout games of a WC: Messi's curse in knockouts is a thing of yesterday now. Before this World Cup, the Argentine star could not score a goal in any World Cup knockout match for Argentina. But the iconic star has now made a huge record in Qatar 2022. Messi has become the first and only player in history to score goals in all knockout games in FIFA World Cup 2022. He found the back of the net in all four knockout games in Qatar.

• Joint Most win by a player in FIFA World Cup: Argentina's win over France saw Messi equal the record for most wins in FIFA World Cup. The Argentine captain has 17 wins and is equal to Germany's Miroslav Klose.
• Most appearances in World Cup as player and captain: Messi has also shattered the record for most World Cup appearances both as a player and as a captain. Messi stepped in his 26th game as a player and 19th as a captain. He surpassed Germany's Lothar Matthaus in most appearances as a player and Mexico's Rafael Márquez as a captain of the team in all FIFA World Cups.

• Most Player of the Match awards won at the FIFA World Cup: The Argentina captain was awarded his 5th Player of the match trophy in Qatar 2022 in the match against France. The striker is the record holder of most player of the match awards in all editions of World Cups. Messi has 11 trophies.
• Most minutes played in the history of the World Cup: Lionel Messi has achieved the record for the most minutes played in FIFA World Cup. He went past  Italy legend Paolo Maldini's record of 2,217 minutes when he spent 23 minutes on the field.
• Only player to score at a World Cup finals in his teens, his 20s and his 30s: Messi also holds this big record for scoring in World Cups during his teen days and in his 20s and also in 30s.