The 2022 World Cup was full of fantastic games and massive upsets, so it was only fitting that the final match between Argentina and France was among the best of the bunch. The game pitted two of the best players in the world in Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe against each other, and it turned into the greatest World Cup Final in the history of the tournament.

Messi and Argentina appeared to be in control of this game from the start, and held a 2-0 lead late into the second half. But then Mbappe flipped the game on its head, tying the match in the 81st minute after scoring a pair of goals in 95 seconds. That sent the game to extra time, where Argentina again threw away a late lead, only to come out victorious in the eventual penalty shootout.

It was an unbelievable game, and it's even more spectacular when you consider how in control of the proceedings Argentina was for the first 80 minutes or so. Let's recap the game, and take a look at some of the biggest moments from what will certainly go down as one of the greatest games of soccer ever played.

Who won the battle: Lionel Messi or Kylian Mbappe?

Everyone was excited to see these two stars, who are actually teammates in the club soccer world with French giant PSG, go toe-to-toe for the biggest prize in soccer. And they did not disappoint; both these guys delivered for their respective nations, and without them, this game would not have been as entertaining as it was.

On the surface, it seems obvious Messi won this battle since he won the game after all. He scored a brace, with his second goal coming in extra time to seemingly give Argentina the lead they would hold onto to close things out. But when the penalty shootout came around, Messi calmly buried Argentina's first shot, giving them the spark to eventually go on and win the game.

But Mbappe was superb in this one. He scored all three of France's goals, and his second goal, which involved him drilling a tough volley into the bottom right corner of the net, was easily the best goal of the tournament when you consider the stakes of this game. Still, Lionel Messi received the hardware in this one, and it's tough to argue that he did not win this battle.

Big saves from Hugo Lloris and Emiliano Martinez made the game all the more exciting

It may not seem like there was a lot of top-tier goalkeeping on display in this game considering the final score was 3-3, but both Hugo Lloris of France and Emiliano Martinez of Argentina were superb in just getting this game to penalties in the first place. Had they not been on the top of their games earlier, chances are the game wouldn't have even made it to extra time in the first place.

Lloris was definitely the busier of the pair throughout the game, and he had some huge saves when France was trailing to keep them in this game. He helped send the game to extra-time, as he saved an absolute rocket of a shot from Messi in the seventh minute of stoppage time in the second half that would have won Argentina the game. He also had a pair of huge saves on Messi and Lautaro Martinez in the second half of extra time right before Messi potted his second goal of the game.

Martinez wasn't at his best early, as he wasn't really tested by France. He got a hand on both of Mbappe's goals in the second half but couldn't keep them out, which was a tough pill to swallow. But Martinez had the save of the game in the third minute of stoppage time in the second half of extra time on Randal Kolo Munai, as he managed to get his foot out to block a clear cut scoring opportunity from Kolo Munai. Had he not made that save, France would have taken a 4-3 lead, and likely won the game.

Argentina comes up big in the penalty shootout to win the World Cup

It was tough to feel like Argentina didn't have the advantage in a penalty shootout, as Martinez is a superb goalie on penalties, and France didn't have a ton of experienced penalty specialists behind Mbappe. And sure enough, Argentina ended up winning the penalty shootout by a score of 4-2.

Mbappe and Messi both nailed the opening shot for their respective nations, but everything changed when Kingsley Coman missed France's second penalty. Lloris isn't very good against penalties, and he didn't really come close to saving any of the Argentines penalties.

Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes both hit their shots while Coman and Aurelian Tchouameni missed theirs and while Kolo Munai nailed his penalty, it didn't matter, because Gonzalo Montiel buried the game-winning penalty to make Argentina champions. And after an absolutely wild game, Lionel Messi got the final piece of hardware his massive trophy case had been missing, further solidifying his case as the greatest soccer player of all time.