By TIM REYNOLDSMonday July 20, 2026
Spain had an answer for everything Argentina tried — including Lionel Messi.
When the final whistle sounded, Spain celebrated with the World Cup trophy while Messi left the field in tears.
Spain returned to the summit of men’s soccer for the second time Sunday, beating defending champion Argentina 1-0 on Ferran Torres’ first goal of this World Cup — and, by any measure, the biggest of his career.
“It was a goal scored by 47 million people,” Torres said, referring to Spain’s population.
He may have struck it, but Spain felt it belonged to an entire country.
Argentina had been reduced to 10 players after Enzo Fernandez received a late red card for a reckless challenge in regulation. Tensions boiled over at that point, then resurfaced after the match as Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni and players from both teams appeared to exchange shoves.
Ultimately, Spain prevented Messi from claiming a second consecutive World Cup in what he has suggested would be his final appearance at the tournament. Torres, introduced after halftime, seized on a loose, bouncing ball in the penalty area and drove a left-footed effort beneath the crossbar in the 106th minute.
Spain’s defense then delivered exactly as it had throughout the competition. The 2010 champions conceded just one goal across eight matches, a new record for the fewest surrendered by a World Cup winner.
“I feel pride, to be honest,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, who at 65 is now the oldest man to lead a team to a World Cup title. “Accompanying them on this journey is an honor.”
Spain gets a World Cup 1st
With the men’s crown joining the Women’s World Cup Spain won in 2023, the country became the first to hold both titles at once. In Madrid — and likely throughout the country — supporters poured into the streets and celebrated well into the early hours of Monday.
The one-goal margin suggested a tight contest. The flow of play told a far different story.
Spain recorded the first 20 shots on goal before Argentina, chasing an equalizer, produced its first attempt in the second half of extra time. Spain also earned nine of the first 10 corner kicks. Only a World Cup final-record 12 saves from Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez kept the 2022 winners in contention for a repeat.
“Dibu was nothing short of exceptional,” de la Fuente said, referring to Argentina’s keeper by his nickname.
Spain has now gone 38 matches without a defeat, compiling 29 wins and nine draws. That is the longest unbeaten run ever by a European men’s team. Italy had held the mark at 37 matches — 28 wins and nine draws — between October 2018 and September 2021, until Spain stopped that run.
No one has beaten Spain in more than two years. Messi could not change that Sunday. Argentina, which had repeatedly produced late comebacks during this tournament, could not find another escape.
“We lost the game, and we accept that,” Scaloni said. “That doesn’t mean that we will forget everything we’ve done so far, so I’d like to thank my people, my players and the country. I can tell them that we played our hearts out.”
Spain survives a late push
With roughly four minutes remaining before the final whistle, Messi curled in a corner that took a favorable bounce toward substitute Giuliano Simeone. Simeone sent his effort high over the bar, then stood with his hands on his head in disbelief.
“When you have Messi on the other side, well, you are nervous,” Torres said. “At the end of the day, we always depended on us. We always come up with our football, and we showed it again.”
Despite the confrontations after the match, Spain also showed respect to the outgoing champions. Spanish players formed a guard of honor for Argentina as its squad headed to the stage to receive runner-up medals from President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“I think now I’m in a cloud,” said Spain midfielder Rodri, the Golden Ball winner as the tournament’s best player.
Argentina had to play the closing stages a man short after Fernandez was dismissed in second-half stoppage time for his second yellow card. He was penalized for a collision that sent Spain defender Pau Cubarsi tumbling through the air, and the referee immediately produced the card.
Defense led Spain to a title
The final was the 104th and last game of the largest World Cup ever, a 48-team tournament staged across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. With more games than any prior edition, the event also produced more than 300 goals — nearly three per match.
Spain, naturally, was the exception. Its formula was straightforward and relentlessly effective: Keep possession and leave opponents with little room to create danger.
That approach carried Spain all the way to the trophy.
Messi is 39, and the numbers point to the Inter Miami star nearing the end of his international career. He has offered clues himself, including when he said last year that a World Cup qualifying match against Venezuela would be his final competitive game for Argentina on home soil.
“I experienced a lot of things on this pitch, good and not so good,” Messi said that night. “I’ll take the good with me.”
A decade ago, he retired from the national team after losing a Copa America final to Chile in the same stadium where he played Sunday. He reversed that decision only weeks later.
Argentina benefited enormously from the change of heart, as Messi evolved over the ensuing decade from a superstar into an unquestioned icon.
He led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup. He won two Copa America titles, in 2021 and 2024. Over 19 years, he collected Argentina’s player of the year award 16 times, first as a teenager and still in his late 30s.
His status as a global figure and a legend of the sport is beyond dispute. On Sunday, though, Spain was the superior team.
“I spoke to my players, and they said: ‘Look, we’ve won everything, coach. We’ve won everything,’” de la Fuente said. “And that is beautiful.”
A final unlike any other
The event offered far more than a soccer match.
Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS and Shakira appeared in a halftime production that also included Burna Boy, Jason Sudeikis as “Ted Lasso” and even the Muppets. Jennifer Hudson, Post Malone and Tom Cruise took part in the closing ceremony, which was held before the match.
Actors, athletes and other celebrities filled the venue. Spain’s Javier Bardem had reason to celebrate. Luciana Barroso Damon — actor Matt Damon’s wife — likely did not, having worn the colors of her native Argentina.
They came for a spectacle, as did 80,000 other fans in attendance and perhaps as many as 2 billion viewers around the world.
Spain provided the decisive moment. No men’s team has captured consecutive World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and Spain ensured Argentina would not join that select company.
“As I told the lads before the game, we have to go for the game, we need to face them, we have to look to their eyes and say we want this game,” Rodri said. “And then, life gives you the World Cup or not.”
Spain claimed it.
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This story was updated to remove quotes mistakenly attributed to Lionel Messi that were actually Lionel Scaloni.
