Arguably one of the greatest FIFA World Cups of all-time came to a close on December 18, 2022, as Argentina beat France in penalties after the two teams tied 3-3 in regulation and extra time. French striker Kylian Mbappé scored three goals in the match, including a late equalizer in extra time, in an effort to help his team become the first repeat World Cup champions since Brazil in 1962. Not to be outdone, Argentinian forward Lionel Messi, one of football’s greatest stars, scored a pair of goals in the final and found the back of the net in penalties to help the South American country win its third World Cup—and first since 1986.
Prior to hoisting the World Cup trophy, Messi was awarded the Golden Ball for being the best player in the tournament. He won the award in 2014, when Argentina lost 1-0 in extra time in the final to Germany. Messi’s teammate, Emi Martinez, was awarded the Golden Glove for being the tournament’s best keeper. He made two key saves in Argentina’s penalty shoot-out victory over the Netherlands and starred again during penalties in the final.
Mbappé, meanwhile, led all players in goals with eight and, as a result, was awarded the Golden Boot. Below is a closer look at Mbappé’s impressive tournament as well as the leading scorers for three other countries.
1. Kylian Mbappé (France)
Mbappé and Messi, who play on the same club team (Paris Saint-Germain in France) were tied with five goals each entering the World Cup final, but the young French striker had a performance for the ages against Argentina. By scoring three goals, he became just the 50th player to record a hat trick in a World Cup match since 1930 and only the second player to score three goals in a final. England’s Geoff Hurst also accomplished the feat in 1966.
Mbappé, who won the Best Young Player at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, now has 12 goals in two tournaments. The 23-year-old forward needs only five goals to surpass Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the all-time record for most goals scored in the World Cup. Overall, he has scored 36 times in 66 matches for France on the international stage.
“It was a scintillating performance, magnificent,” French manager Didier Deschamps said of Mbappé’s performance against Argentina. “Kylian has really left his mark on this final. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave it the way he would have liked, which is why he was so disappointed at the end of the match like the rest of his teammates.”
2. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Although he didn’t win the Golden Boot, Messi was more than deserving of the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player. He scored in all but one of Argentina’s seven matches and also had three assists. Messi also had 27 shots, 14 of which were on target. He now has 13 goals in 26 matches at five World Cups and is Argentina’s all-time leading scorer in the quadrennial international football tournament. Messi has 98 goals in 172 matches for Argentina across all competition levels.
An eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or award as the top footballer in the world, Messi scored his first World Cup goal in a 2006 group stage match against Serbia and Montenegro. Coming off the bench, he assisted on Argentina’s fourth goal and scored its sixth goal in the 88th minute. At just 18 years and 357 days old, he was the youngest player to score for Argentina at the FIFA World Cup.
3. Gonçalo Ramos (Portugal)
Gonçalo Ramos led all Portugal players with three goals and finished tied for fourth in tournament scoring. Interestingly, Ramos was held off the scoresheet during the group stage as Portugal finished first in Group H with 6 points. However, he scored three goals during the team’s 6-1 Round of 16 victory over Switzerland. Portugal lost 1-0 to Morocco in the quarter-finals.
Ramos scored the first hat trick of the World Cup in the match against Switzerland. He opened the scoring against Switzerland in the 17th minute and scored again in the 51st and 67th minutes. A relatively inexperienced player at the international level, Ramos only scored his first goal for Portugal in a friendly against Nigeria one month before the 2022 World Cup.
4. Álvaro Morata (Spain)
Spain, which lost to Morocco in penalties in the Round of 16, scored nine goals in the group stage and finished second behind Japan in Group E. It scored seven of those goals in a clean sheet victory over Costa Rica. Álvaro Morata, who led the team in scoring, only scored once in that game. He scored Spain’s seventh goal in injury time and was the country’s lone scorer in its 1-1 draw against Germany and 2-1 defeat to Japan.
A 30-year-old forward, Morata has been Spain’s most consistent scorer in major competitions since 2016. His nine goals in matches at the World Cup and European Championships during that time is twice as much as Spain’s next highest scorer.