Argentina v France World Cup final player ratings: Messi 10, Romero 9; Mbappe 10, Giroud 5

Thrilling final ends in a shoot-out as Messi finally lifts the coveted trophy

Lionel Messi won the World Cup for Argentina on Sunday as he scored twice against France in one of the all-time great finals before the South Americans held their nerve to win in a penalty shoot-out in Qatar.

Messi finally crowned his record-breaking career by winning football's biggest prize with a performance that will go down in World Cup history, scoring a first-half penalty and netting again in extra time.

France had fought back from 2-0 down as Kylian Mbappe scored twice to equalise and force extra time in a pulsating match.

Messi seemed to have decided the match in extra time with his second goal of the game before Mbappe completed only the second World Cup final hat-trick to bring the score to 3-3 and force penalties.

Gonzalo Montiel swept home the decisive penalty to win the shoot-out 4-2 for Argentina - but this was Messi's moment.

Tens of thousands of blue and white-shirted Argentina fans rose to salute Messi as he told them "we're champions of the world!" on the stadium microphone.

Player ratings from the World Cup final can be seen in the gallery above. To view the next image, just swipe.