Lionel Messi is not letting go of the FIFA World Cup trophy. The Argentina captain managed to clinch the title in his fourth and final attempt after making his debut for the national team in 2005.
Messi's long wait for the triumph also ended Argentina's 36-year trophy drought at the World Cup as the 35-year-old became the first captain from his country to lay his hands on the most-coveted football prize since Diego Maradona in 1986.
And Messi is not willing to let go of the trophy, even after two days since Argentina beat France on penalties at the Lusail Stadium.
Messi is even sleeping with the trophy and it seems even having breakfast in bed with it. He posted a series of pictures on his social media accounts in which he can be seen sleeping, waking up and drinking coffee in bed with the trophy besides him.
Messi in elite list
Messi became the third captain after Daniel Passarella and Diego Maradona to lead Argentina to victory in the World Cup final. Messi was instrumental in the win as well, scoring twice in regulation and extra-time before the match went into penalties.
He opened the scoring in the 23rd minute to break the deadlock after Angel Di Maria earned a penalty for Argentina. It put him ahead of Kylian Mbappe on the number of goals in this edition.
Di Maria himself doubled the lead in the 36th minute before the defending champions hit back in the second half through Mbappe, who scored two goals in the space of 97 seconds to level the equation.
Messi then put Argentina ahead once again in extra-time to take his tally at the FIFA WC to 7 goals. But again, France pulled things back as Mbappe converted a penalty two minutes from the final whistle to take the game into the penalties.
Messi took the first shot for Argentina and converted, along with teammates Paulo Dybala, Leandro Paredes and Gonzalo Montiel. Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni.
