In the moments after the most gripping World Cup final in history had been won by Argentina, Lionel Messi was mobbed on the pitch by his jubilant mother after the striker finally won the one trophy to have evaded him in his career.
Celia Maria Cuccittini was caught on camera in her Argentina shirt rushing up to her son, fighting back tears. Messi was looking the other way as she made her way up to him and the emotional moment she caught him off-guard as he saw her for the first time as a World Cup winner was caught on camera.
Messi scored twice in the game and once more from the penalty spot as Argentina tied 3-3 with France after extra-time before winning 4-2 on penalties. Messi’s club teammate at Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappe, scored a hat-trick for France but was still on the losing team.
In the moments between the game ending and the trophy lift, Messi’s children also made it onto the pitch. He has three sons – Thiago, Mateo and Ciro – with his childhood sweetheart Antonella Roccuzzo.
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Lionel Messi’s mother Celia ran onto the pitch to celebrate with him after Argentina’s sensational World Cup victory over France in Qatar on Sunday
Messi celebrated with close family in the moments before he got his hands on the trophy
Celia (right) watches her son from the stands during the most dramatic World Cup final in memory – Argentina would eventually defeat France on penalties
Argentina led the final on two separate occasions but France fought back both times to take the game to penalties before Messi and his team eventually emerged victorious
The emotional scenes played out in the aftermath of the most dramatic World Cup final ever. Messi scored a penalty to put Argentina into the lead in the first half, before Angel di Maria doubled the lead with a phenomenal sweeping passing move.
For most of the second half, it looked like Argentina was set to cruise to glory but an 80th minute penalty for Mbappe sparked France back into action.
Mbappe then, a minute later, equalized with a stunning shot of his own to send the game into extra-time and all the momentum felt like it had left Messi and Argentina.
SRC: https://www.gettyimages.com.au/
