Benched Nation

Lionel Messi loses his third, and likely last, World Cup final We will never see another era like this

Ferran Torres looked as relieved as the rest of us that the World Cup final was coming to an end

Argentina trying to win the World Cup final without having a single shot on goal

Remembering how long it has been since this World Cup final started

“My favourite bit of the half time show was when it finished… I like all of them artists but I thought it was crap” Never change, Wayne Rooney

Otamendi stopping this Spain move with a big boot away was like drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa

Insane to be playing a World Cup final against someone you once bathed

When you see Spain open up Argentina twice in the opening five minutes and wonder how many defenders you would bring on in the sixth minute if your team did that

Messi’s latest skill - a mid-match Robert De Niro impression x.com/Timmyofdelta/s…

When you suddenly can’t hear “it’s coming home” any more

When he doesn’t score, he assists Unstoppable 👑👑👑

When the late Argentina dagger hits

One of the tackles of the tournament by Djed Spence

A goal so big even Posh Spice celebrated

Joe Cole: “Messi’s first time playing against England? Well, we’re going to put him to sleep, 100%” (h/t @RestIsFootball )

Pedro Porro really went from a relegation battle with Tottenham to sending Spain to the World Cup final in the space of two months

Pau Cubarsí: “There was some talk about the defence and the goalkeeping on our side, but we have shut a lot of mouths” “I think that one of the most important things in football now is to keep a clean sheet” (h/t @FabrizioRomano)

France before the World Cup semi-finals vs France in the World Cup semi-finals

Lionel Messi has 57 goal contributions across 62 games (39 goals, 18 assists) when he has faced an international team for the first time Messi plays England for the first time in the World Cup semi-final (H/T @OptaJoe )