It was a clash too good to be true, in real time. The first 60 minutes felt like a coronation. The second 60 minutes felt like holding on to the hood of a speeding car. <\/p>\n
As for Messi and Mbapp\u00e9: spectacular. As sports observers we harp so much on the failures and shortcomings of superstars\u2014the great players who do not deliver in the biggest moments. It\u2019s empty theater of scolding and schadenfreude, because it\u2019s not what we actually want. <\/p>\n
To see two of the greatest to ever do it\u2014a 35-year-old generational superstar, and his 23-year-old successor\u2014play at the height of their powers, is what we want, because it\u2019s unadulterated joy. <\/p>\n
Messi, seeking the first World Cup title, played with incandescent fury. Mbapp\u00e9, well-defended and invisible early, burst back almost single-handedly to make it a match. <\/p>\n
Messi was Messi, Mbapp\u00e9 was Mbapp\u00e9. It was all you could ask for. <\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t even gotten to the scale of all this\u2014how a World Cup is truly worldly, with the heart rates and birthrates of continents rising and falling with each shift in momentum. It all means so much more. <\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEpic\u201d championships and superstars seldom deliver on pre-game hype. That was not the case at Sunday\u2019s World Cup final, where Argentina, France, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 delivered a match that will be remembered forever. https:\/\/t.co\/zRzFA1bEAc<\/a><\/p>\n — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n