December 18 was a red-letter day not just for Argentina football fans but all the admirers of Lionel Messi. After a long and painful wait, the Argentine star was finally able to lay his hands on the FIFA World Cup trophy.
The final win against France was anything but easy. Messi put Argentina ahead from the penalty spot and played a part in Angel Di Maria's goal that made it 2-0 after 36 minutes. But, Mbappe scored two goals in a 97-second span to take the game to extra-time. Messi then tapped in his second goal in the 109th minute. But there was still time for another penalty from Mbappe to take the thrilling game to a shootout.
Gonzalo Montiel scored the clinching penalty kick after France's Kingsley Coman had an attempt saved and Aurelien Tchouameni missed.
To commemorate the famous win, the room Messi stayed in during the World Cup in Qatar, will be transformed into a museum, University of Qatar was quoted as saying by El Graphico.
It published a series of photos of the rooms where the Argentine national team stayed and, in the last post, announced that room B201 used by Messi will become a museum.
"The University of Qatar announces the allocation of the room built by the Argentine national team player Lionel Messi during the Qatar World Cup into a mini museum."
It has not yet been revealed if the museum will operate from the same complex or be moved elsewhere in the campus.
The Messi-led squad, reportedly, decided to stay in the university campus instead of the five-star luxury hotels so that they can carry on their tradition of having beef barbeques – the meat, in fact, was flown in from Argentina. They also had a dedicated chef, reports said.
Messi scored seven goals and became the only player in the history of the World Cup to win two Golden Balls, as Argentina lifted the trophy after a long wait of 36 years. He also equalled Pele's tally of 13 World Cup goals and became the top Argentine goalscorer in the tournament's history, overtaking Gabriel Batistuta who had held the record with 10 goals to his name.
