Fabrizio Romano on Messi Mbappe and Martinez in World Cup final

Fabrizio Romano has written exclusively for CaughtOffside’s  Substack about the World Cup final thriller between Argentina and France yesterday.

Argentina eventually triumphed on penalties after a 3-3 draw, with a brace from Lionel Messi helping him finally get his hands on this trophy, while Kylian Mbappe put in a legendary performance with a hat-trick, only to finish on the losing side.

Romano says both Messi and Mbappe were incredible, but also had special praise for Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, saying he made the difference at the end of the day.

The Aston Villa ‘keeper made a crucial save towards the end of extra time, and another in the penalty shoot-out victory for the South American giants.

Romano believes this shows how important goalkeepers are in the modern game, while he also described this as the best World Cup final in the history of the tournament.

“This was the best ever final ever for me – it was absolutely incredible!” Romano said. “Mbappe was unreal, Messi obviously too. I think it also helps to understand how important is the goalkeeper in modern football, Emi Martinez made the difference.

“I’m sure people will now be continuing the debate about whether or not Messi is the best ever. Personally, I’m not a big fan of comparisons between top players, I’m a big fan of enjoying them; and Messi is for sure a legend of this game, now even more.”

Romano also gave some insight into Messi and Mbappe’s futures at Paris Saint-Germain, with these two World Cup final stars facing some uncertainty in the French capital.

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“PSG will hold talks with Leo Messi and his representatives in the next weeks, they want him to stay at all costs,” Romano said. “There will be a proposal to extend his contract very soon.

“For Mbappe, everything is absolutely quiet now; PSG are very clear in stating that they want him to stay on long-term but we will see in the next months, nothing will be decided now.”