Argentina vs. France: Lionel Messi's World Cup final in Qatar

"I would prefer one World Cup to the five Ballons d'Or. Team trophies are above individual ones. It would be the best to win a World Cup," Lionel Messi said at the Ballon d'Or gala in 2016. It is his dream. It would be the well-deserved golden climax to his career, but first, he must dethrone France, the current world champion, in Sunday's final in Qatar.

Argentina will put all their passion into the game, embodied by their captain Messi, and France will enjoy the strength of the experience of having lived through similar battles. Didier Deschamps' side were a finalist at the 2016 Euros and then won the World Cup in 2018. Now, they aspire to win a third World Cup, just like the Albiceleste. They would become the first nation to win back-to-back titles in 60 years, when Pele's Brazil did it.

Lusail Albiceleste

The Lusail Stadium will have a clear Argentine aroma. Some 45,000 Albiceleste fans are expected in the stands, more than half the capacity. The French presence will be minimal. In addition, it is estimated that some 7,000 more fans of the South American team have traveled to Doha without a ticket. The screens set up in the FIFA Fan Zone or the surroundings of the stadium will be full of their supporters. Their songs will resound like never before.

In the stadium, they will provide the colour with 4,000 balloons, 6,000 flags and 2,000 scarves, among other things. The game will have the air of the World Cup final at the River's Monumental in 1978, with Mario Alberto Kempes as a great star and César Luis Menotti as coach.

Monumental 1978

The atmosphere is designed to push Argentina and Messi, with the spirit of Diego Armando Maradona floating permanently. For the star formed in La Masia, the time has come to take the baton definitively. In 2014, he was left with honey on his lips and, at the age of 35, he aspires to become indisputably the great of all time.

Messi is playing for the World Cup but also for new individual distinctions. In the fight for the Golden Boot, Messi and Mbappé are tied on five goals, but the Argentine leads on the basis of providing three assists, to two for Mbappe. They are two figures who are leaving their mark on the world of football.

Messi now has seven Ballons d'Or and four Champions Leagues. Mbappé has already won a World Cup, in 2018, and at 23 he aspires to collect more distinctions over the next few years, perhaps becoming the heir to the 'Pulga'.

Mbappé is surrounded by players who fully believe in their commander Deschamps -- two Barcelona players among them, Jules Kounde and Ousmane Dembélé. They provide the right side of the France side, although with injuries in defence it is not ruled out that Kounde could act as a central defender and leave the flank for Pavard.

Stopping Leo

In any case, the physiognomy of France will change little. They will build a cage around Messi and seek to impose physical superiority on him.

Argentina, for their part, have Leo's ingenuity, improvisation and talent, along with the fresh air of youngsters like Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez, both capable of changing games.

They have imagination and heart. The emotion grew Saturday with a letter from Messi's eldest son, Thiago, in which he encouraged his father to be champion: “I want to win the third, I want to be a World Cup champion, and we can see Diego from heaven. Don Don Diego la Tota encouraging Lionel. Repeat."

Probable sides

Argentina: 'Dibu' Martínez; Molina, Lisandro Martínez, Romero, Otamendi, Acuña; De Paul, Enzo Martínez, Mac Allister; Messi & Julián Álvarez.

France: Lloris, Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, Theo Hernández; Tchouaméni, Rabiot, Griezmann; Dembélé, Giroud & Mbappé.

Referee: Szymon Marciniak

Kick off: 16.00 h. (18.00 h. en Qatar)

Stadium: Lusail