Spain vs Argentina player ratings: Lionel Messi fails to produce last minute magic as super-subs guide Spain to World Cup victory | Football news
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in one of the most one-sided World Cup finals in history. From Ferran Torres’ heroics to Lionel Messi’s last dance, here are the player ratings as Luis de la Fuente’s look for their second star…
Spain
Unai Simon – 5
Argentina did not have a shot until the 117th minute. Maybe he got a good tan and definitely put his hands on the cup.
Pedro Porro – 8
He was a constant threat to make a run at Lamine Yamal. It was his cross that finally opened the floodgates – a spot-kick delivered to Williams from behind.
Pau Cubarsi – 6
He played with maturity beyond his years. There wasn’t much to do in terms of stopping the Argentine, but he remained calm whenever danger arose. World Cup Winner and Young Player of the Tournament.
Aymeric Laporte – 6
There was nothing he could do to defend himself. He had a half chance late in normal time but couldn’t buy enough for his title.
Marc Cucurella – 7
Like the Euros the past two years, Cucurella has raised his stock this summer and continued with another fine performance at both ends of the pitch.
Rodri – 7
Field general. He ended the game in favor of Spain. He was taken off in extra time which is understandable given the risk of playing beyond 90 minutes and his injury history.
Fabian Ruiz – 6
89 percent passing was created by two chances. A solid or impressive performance from the PSG man before his removal after an hour.
Lamine Yamal – 5
Was this the day he took the crown from King Messi? Not really. The young player was targeted and kept quiet, but he will accept that given the result.
Dani Olmo – 5
Of all the Spanish possessions, it never happened to Olmo. Not much happened in front of him honestly, so it was hard to pull the strings.
Alex Baena – 5
Whether it was Montiel or Molina, Argentina’s right backs were there. Baena combined well with Cucurella, but the introduction of Williams to add more pace made perfect sense.
Mikel Oyarzabal – 6
He was the only one to trouble Martinez in the first half, but as is often the case, he conceded for Spain to go the other way at the top.
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Ferran Torres – 8
A moment he will never forget. A really nice piece of stability and quality while being very important. His teammates struggled to show it, but Ferran Torres had it in abundance. To be the man who won the 2026 World Cup.
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Ferran Torres scored an important goal in extra time for Spain to make it 1-0 in the final match of the World Cup against Argentina.
Peter – 6
He looked smart on the ball and brought more energy to the midfield than Fabian Ruiz.
Mikel Merino – 5
His moment looked like it came in extra time as he got on the end of a cross just outside the six yard box. The net should have exploded, but the super-sub missed a chance to be the hero.
Nico Williams – 7
The substitute was brought on to do something, and he thought he had done the biggest when he bundled the ball into extra time only for controversy to be ruled out. However, he had his moment by grabbing the winner with a nod back to Torres.
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The Spanish and Argentinian fans reacted to Nico Williams’ goal, which was later proved to be unsuccessful due to poor play by Nicolas Otamendi.
Martin Zubimendi – 5
He spent half of the game doing things he wasn’t allowed to do as Argentina went for a late equalizer. Not at Rodri’s level but fresh legs at a crucial time.
Eric Garcia – 6
Argentina were throwing the kitchen sink at Spain and Garcia added a defensive body to see the game out.
In Argentina
Emi Martinez – 8
He started out confident but as the match went on, Martinez grew more and more. There are many direct saves that he fumbles. However, he kept his cool, making important saves to keep Argentina there late and in extra time. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough.
Argentina’s players looked dejected after Ferran Torres scored the winner against Spain
Gonzalo Montiel – 5
Struggling to move forward and I often couldn’t keep up with Cucurella’s overlapping movements down the other side. There was nothing when he won the World Cup four years ago.
Cristian Romero – 6
He had a lot to do defensively and with Martinez coming off just before the break, he did well alongside Otamendi for most of the game before limping off on 70 minutes.
Lisandro Martinez – 4
Maybe it was more painful since he didn’t do anything too bad, but he got booked and got injured before halftime.
Nicolas Tagliafico – 6
Marshal Lamine Yamal almost as well as he could. The youngster certainly hasn’t done anything remarkable and that’s a credit to the Argentine defender.
Rodrigo De Paul – 5
He struggled to contain the midfield battle as Rodri and Ruiz played him off the park.
Alexis Mac Allister – 5
He sat back with the rest of Argentina and could not show what he was capable of. He was distracted by their style of play rather than his individual efforts.
Enzo Fernandez – 2
His stupidity in stoppage time on Cubarsi, having already been booked for talking to the referee, put his team completely behind going into extra time. They are already under the cosh, you make it worse.
No hands on his ears after that.
Enzo Fernandez reacts to being sent off with a red card in the World Cup final
Nico Gonzalez – 6
He actually looked dangerous when he got the chance to take the ball forward, but was withdrawn at the break as Argentina looked very strong in defence.
Lionel Messi – 4
If this was Lionel Messi’s fate, it was not the way he would have dreamed. He didn’t impact the game nearly as much as anyone expected him to, but what a tournament. What a player.
The picture of him sitting down, defeated, may be the last one on the football field for all we know. If so, then he walks away with his head held high, even if he couldn’t get another magical history moment.
Lionel Messi couldn’t find his last spark of magic
Julian Alvarez – 3
Argentina played defensively and Alvarez couldn’t get involved. It was substituted midway through extra time which tells you all you need to know about how Lionel Scaloni was approaching the game.
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Nicolas Otamendi – 6
A word with information brought to what may be the last dance. He led the defense well enough until the inevitable happened.
Leandro Paredes – 2
It’s shocking. He came in, he made mistakes, he didn’t do anything good and he carried himself in the wrong way until he got a red card after the final whistle. He should be ashamed of himself.
Nahuel Molina – 3
It was hit from behind by Williams to set up Torres’ winner. He then instigated the worst scenes by throwing a fist at Rodri as he rushed onto the field to celebrate with his teammates. A big loser is probably trying to deviate from his role in an expensive goal.
Facundo Medina – 5
Medina couldn’t do much to stop Spain’s attack, but eventually he was one of the defenders on the pitch when they scored.
Giuliano Simone – 5
He took his socks off after coming in, but he will always remember his miss in extra time. When the ball fell to his feet in the corner, he would see his name in lights. Instead, he fired his half volley over the bar.
Marcos Senesi – 5
Senesi put in a few decent saves, but his introduction in place of Alvarez was straight out of Thomas Tuchel’s playbook. He criticized Argentina for trying to hold on – before conceding – and perhaps wished they had stuck with one striker.
Best player: Ferran Torres
Ferran Torres celebrates his opening goal in extra time
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