Ferran Torres’ 106th-minute strike on Sunday night guaranteed victory for Luis de la Fuente’s led Spanish side in the final of 2026 World Cup.
They have a second World Cup win in 16 years!
Spain were deserved winners. Torres scored with Spain’s 20th shot while the game ended without Argentina registering a single shot on target.
Lionel Messi touched the ball just 54 times in a match that took more than two hours to complete and featured a 27-minute half-time break.
Spain’s win had shades of their maiden victory in 2010 too, scoring in the second period of extra time after a goalless 90 minutes. Then, it was Andres Iniesta against the Netherlands – now another Barcelona player, Torres, adds his name to the history books.
A nod back from fellow substitute Nico Williams saw the former Manchester City forward storm on to the ball and fire past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez. It came minutes after Williams had an initial strike ruled out for an alleged Mikel Merino foul on Nicolas Otamendi.
Argentina did keep their shape well as Spain applied consistent pressure – especially after Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a reckless second yellow at the end of normal time – and relied on Martinez to make a string of saves.
Their only threat emerged in added-on time at the end of extra time with Giuliano Simeone blazing over a shot that could have sent the game to penalties.
But there was no fairytale end to Messi’s expected final World Cup appearance, with the Argentina skipper anonymous for much of the game with his team unable to get hold of the ball. He was also beaten to his first World Cup Golden Boot by France’s Kylian Mbappe, who won it by two goals.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi missed out on winning his first World Cup Golden Boot
Spain remain undefeated under manager Luis de la Fuente in tournament matches and add a World Cup win to their Euros title from 2024. It has been quite the tournament from an opening draw to Cape Verde to making France and Argentina look like average teams.
Key moments of the match
Torres broke the deadlock early in the second half of extra time, firing home on the rebound to give the European champions their second World Cup title.
Argentina were down to 10 men when Enzo Fernandez was dismissed with a second booking in second-half stoppage time.
The Argentines were toothless in attack and did not have a shot on or off target for 115 minutes.
At 65 years old, Spain’s Luis de la Fuente became the oldest World Cup-winning coach.
Argentina’s 39-year-old captain Lionel Messi became only the second player to feature in three World Cup finals and also the oldest outfield player to feature in a final.
With agency reports