Initially unnoticed, as attention was on the losers rather than the winners when Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic signaled the end of the match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. However, the punch that Nahuel Molina, Atlético de Madrid player and Argentine full-back, delivered to Rodrigo Hernández was the trigger for the most bitter post-match in World Cup history.
Spanish midfielder, chosen as the tournament's best player, wanted to ask for an explanation for the blow received from his rival, when Eric García intervened to try to mediate. Leandro Paredes, a player who flirted with expulsion with several actions during the match, needed no more to start a brawl that Lionel Scaloni, the Albiceleste coach, unsuccessfully tried to stop.
Gavi appeared like a freight train to defend his teammates and ended up on the ground shaken by Paredes and Thiago Almada, another Atlético de Madrid player in the Argentine expedition. Far from calming down, the brawl spread to other areas, and Roberto Ayala, a member of the Argentine coaching staff, was also seen hitting Dani Olmo.
The Argentine frustration displayed earlier on the field through actions and fouls that led them to finish the match with ten players, due to the expulsion of Enzo Fernández for two yellow cards, multiplied in the post-match.
Nevertheless, the defeated still reproached the Spaniards, as Otamendi did with Rodri, for complaining in the lead-up to the toughness they would face from the Argentines. "You were crying all week, you and Laporte, both of you," said the Albiceleste player to the astonished Spanish midfielder.
When the waters calmed, the trophy presentation ceremony began, where the Argentine national team would pass through a Spanish corridor to receive their runner-up medals. Many of the expedition members, including Messi, were flooded in tears.
However, when it was the champions' turn, the Argentines, far from honoring a team that had masterfully defeated them during 120 minutes of intense battle on the MetLife Stadium turf, decided to turn their backs while the Spaniards lifted the World Cup with Rodrigo in the center of the photo and Donald Trump trying to stay in the celebration photo.
In the press room, Lionel Scaloni, a coach who gave Messi his first and only World Cup in Qatar, broke down like no coach had ever done in a press conference. "I'm sorry, it hurts in my soul," he said before concluding a speech that he delivered with effort, trying to hold back his emotions.
It was the saddest epilogue to Spain's second star. A team that reduced all the teams it faced, including Argentina, who did not have a shot on goal throughout the match. Frustration spoke during and after a final in which Spain showcased football.