Lionel Messi has finally won the World Cup. He has added the famous title that had previously escaped him for all of his career as Argentina became world champions for the first time since 1986.
They had to wait to penalties, Kylian Mbappe's brilliant hattrick on his way to becoming the tournament's top scorer made sure of that, but Messi and his Argentina teammates finally clinched the World Cup title in one of the craziest games in the history of football.
The superstar - like all of his Argentina teammates - was pictured in tears after the match as Argentina held their nerve to win on penalties. The 35-year-old was the centre of attention in the immediate aftermath, collapsing to his knees as Gonzalo Montiel's winning strike capped a career-crowning moment for Messi.
As soon as the ball hit the back of the net, Argentina players turned and ran to Messi who was stood on the halfway line. He sank to the ground, not under the initial weight of his teammates but because of the recognition of what had just happened.
There wasn't a dry eye in the Argentina camp, Messi included, the captain had guided his country to global success in the most difficult of circumstances. They had rose to the occasion, the weight of a nation on Messi's shoulders, and justifiably his post-match reaction was a pure release of emotion.
Messi was pictured with close friend and former Argentina striker Sergio Aguero after the match with the duo arms wrapped around each other on the pitch as the star of the show wiped away his tears.
After celebrating with his teammates, Messi was quick to recognise what he had just achieved with Argentinian supporters inside the ground.
The man who has produced so many moments of magic over his career stood in front of thousand of fans chanting his name, arms aloft, he was soaking every moment in, sure not to miss a second of it.
France should have been out of the game, Argentina should have wrapped up victory. Neither happened and the European nation found a way back into the game as Messi's dream .
Messi was exquisite in the first-half, on the periphery for large parts of the second. He scored the penalty to open the scoring in the 23rd minute and produced a piece of magic to send Alexis Mac Allister away as Argentina doubled their lead.
The 35-year-old would have been dreaming of himself lifting the Jules Rimet trophy with their two-goal lead intact with just 10 minutes left inside Qatar's Lusail Stadium.
Up stepped PSG teammate and France hero Kylian Mbappe to spoil the party with a brace in two minutes with Messi robbed of the ball in the goal's build-up as Les Blues somehow clawed their way back into the game.
As France stunned Argentina, Messi drooped on the halfway line as 80 minutes of hard work had been undone by two lapses in concentration. The Barcelona legend looked as if he couldn't believe what had happened.
Pain etched across his face, head down, shirt pulled over his nose, this was a disaster of the highest order for a player who had won every title available to him. The World Cup being the missing piece in the jigsaw.
Goalscorer Mbappe pumped his fist as Messi waited to get the game back underway, the Argentinian clearly unimpressed by the youngster's gloating in the pressure-cooker situation.
Messi almost wrote his name into Argentina folklore with a powerful strike in stoppage time forcing a fingertip save from Lloris as the match entered extra time.
The man who needed a World Cup title to eclipse national Diego Maradona in the eyes of Argentinian supporters had to ready himself and his team of shocked stars to go again.
This match was more like boxing than football, each had battered their opponent, all that was missing was the final knockout blow.
Messi thought he had won it in fairytale fashion with a goal in extra time. The star of Argentina reacted quickest to Lautaro Martinez' initial effort inside the France box to clip the ball over the line.
Defender Dayot Upamecano couldn't stop the ball from crossing the line as a scenario written in the stars for football's greatest ever player looked destined to become reality.
Messi ran off into the corner as wild celebrations began, France players looked confused as to whether the ball had crossed the line, Argentina didn't care as on-pitch stars and substitutes ran to celebrate with their hero.
The five-foot-five playmaker is hard to spot at the best of times, under the weight of his ecstatic teammate's he was invisible.
Mbappe again proved to be a thorn in Messi's side as he scored a second penalty of the match to send the game to penalties.
The rest is history as they say. Messi is finally a World Cup winner and just look at what it means to him.