The players of the Argentina national team celebrate qualifying for the World Cup final after a 0:3 victory over Croatia (Instagram)
One country will celebrate a third world championship in history - will it be Argentina or France?
Lionel Messi's first World Cup win or will the tricolor be the first in 60 years to defend the title?
We will get the answers on Sunday, when the two teams will meet for a historic final at 17:00 at the iconic stadium in Losail.
* There have been 12 meetings between the two teams to date, with France leading 3:6 in victories and another three games not decided.
* As part of the World Cup there were three confrontations, and in the last two the winner also went on to win.
In 2018, it was France who made a turnaround and celebrated a big 3:4 in the round of 16 with a brace from Kylian Mbappe, 40 years after Argentina won 1:2 in the group stage of the 1978 World Cup, which they hosted and at the end lifted the trophy for the first time in history.
Also in the first meeting between them in the World Cup, somewhere in 1930, Argentina won 0:1.
Nico Otamendi was scolded, but it was Kylian Mbappe who celebrated at the 2018 World Cup (Photo: Reuters)
* For Argentina this is the sixth World Cup final in history.
In the last two she lost (1990 and 2014) and in total she has three losses in this class - the only world champion with more losses than victories in the final (she won in 1978 and 1986).
* For France this is their fourth ever final - all in the last seven tournaments.
She won the eyes of the home crowd in 1998 and waved in 2018 as well, compared to one loss on penalties in the 2006 final against Italy.
* France is the first world champion to reach the final since its opponent in 1998, Brazil.
It wants to be the third ever to retain the title, after Italy (wins in 1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962).
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Hugo Lloris with Olivier Giroud (Photo: Reuters)
* Messi will become in the finals the sole record of appearances in the World Cup with his 26th game (in five different tournaments) and say goodbye to the previous record Luther Matthews (25).
If he finds the back of the net in the final, he will equal the legendary Pele with 12 goals in the World Cup and will be in fifth place in the scoring table.
* Messi has already scored before against France.
It happened in a friendly match in February 2009, when Argentina with Diego Maradona on the lines won 0:2 in the Stade Velodrome.
Jonas Gutierrez and the Flea then subdued Steve Mandanda, now the assistant goalkeeper of the Tricolor.
Hugo Lloris and Angel Di Maria were then sitting on the national team benches.
* Messi (Paris Saint-Germain) and Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon) are the only two from the Argentinian squad who play in the French league.
The captain will meet his friend Mbappe, the only representative of PSG in the French squad and his direct rival for the title of top scorer of the tournament.
Each has scored five so far.
One goal in the past against France.
Lionel Messi at the Stade Velodrome in 2009 (Photo: GettyImages, Michael Steele)
* Apart from PSG, there is also representation in the two finals for Atlético Madrid (Antoine Griezmann against Nahuel Molina, Rodrigo de Paul and Angel Correa), Juventus (Adrien Rabio against Angel Di Maria and Andrew Paredes), Manchester United (Rafael and Ran against Lisandro Martins) and Tottenham (Hugo Lloris against Christian Romero).
* Since 1982 there has been at least one representative for Inter and Bayern Munich in every final, and the tradition has also been preserved in Qatar.
The Argentinian Lautro Martinez is the Nerazzurri's representative, while the German champions have no less than four players in the French squad: Benjamin Fabre, Dayo Opamacano, Kingsley Coman and also Lucas Hernandez who was injured at the beginning of the tournament.
* Lucas will of course be considered world champions if France win, so he and Taw could become the third ever pair of brothers to achieve this feat.
In 1954 it was the brothers Fritz and Ottmar Walter (West Germany) and in 1966 the brothers Bobby and Jackie Charlton (England).
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Argentina national team
French national team
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