Lionel Messi wants to keep playing for Argentina 'as a champion' as he opens up on winning World Cup

Argentina captain Lionel Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup after victory over France in the final.

Messi scored twice in a 3-3 draw with the 2018 winners, with France forward Kylian Mbappe also scoring a hat-trick. However, Argentina prevailed 4-2 on penalties to allow Messi to finally get his hands on the World Cup trophy and make up for the heartache of losing in the 2014 final against Germany.

“Obviously I wanted to end my career with this, I can’t ask for anything more,” Messi said. “I was able to win the Copa America, the World Cup … it was given to me almost at the end. I love football, what I do. I enjoy being a part of the national team, with the group. I want to continue playing a few more games being world champion. It’s anyone’s childhood dream. I was lucky enough to have achieved everything and this is what I was missing, it’s now here.

Messi, who currently plays for PSG, also landed the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player and finished the tournament with seven goals. “It’s crazy, it made you long for it, but it’s the most beautiful thing there is,” he added on winning as captain of Argentina. “It’s beautiful. I wanted it so badly. God was going to give it to me, I had a feeling it was going to be this one. We suffered a lot but we got it.”