The Cup of Champions is a football league started in 1985 and was only held twice prior to this season. It is also known as Artemio Franchi Cup co-organized by CONMEBOL and UEFA for the winners of Copa America and UEFA European Championship. National teams participate in this cup, unlike Champions League where City Clubs participate. The previous seasons were held in 1985 and 1993 before reviving it again in 2022. A new name was coined this time, ‘Finalissima’ meaning Grand Final in Italian.
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Argentina and Italy played the finals where Lionel Messi was the star of the game. The game was played at Wembley Stadium in London and the stadium was flooded with fans attending the game. Messi won Argentina their second cup after Copa America or South American Championship within 11 months. There was a coincidence that the jersey no. who won the last cup in 1993 was also 10 of Diego Maradona, same as Messi this year.
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Lionel didn’t score any goal but was still named as the man of the match for his incredible assists in the two out of three goals. He did try to take some shots himself but the 34 year old player was blocked each time. The first goal was taken by Lautaro Martinez, assisted by Messi in the 28th minute. They didn’t stop there and Angel Di Maria scored the second goal with the help of Lautaro Martinez in the 46th minute, making 3-0. It was already a win for the Argentines but Paulo Dybala still added one more to the score with Messi’s assist in the 94th minute.
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Argentina won the Finalissma, the entire team paraded the ground with Lionel Messi holding the cup. It was a disappointing loss for Italy and it was Giorgio Chiellini the captain of the Italian team’s last match before he retired. Italy had to return back to the stands after losing in the same venue where they won their Euro title. After winning the cup, Messi stated, “What we experienced here was beautiful. We knew it was going to be a nice game and nice setting in which to be champions.” It was Messi’s second trophy lift at Wembley, previously being the Champions League finals 2011 where Barcelona defeated Manchester United.
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