BOTH had been coming all afternoon. The question was what would come first: an Argentina red card or a Spain goal. In the end, Enzo Fernandes picked up a second yellow before Spain added a second star to their jersey via a fine Ferran Torres finish in extra time. In a World Cup where all the stars performed and lived up to expectations, a team with the strongest foundations had won out.
At the World Cup's first daylight final this century, Spain had sought to put daylight between themselves and Argentina by gently probing and prodding across the four quarters, sandwiched by two hydration breaks and a 27-minute Super Bowl-style half-time show.
Either side of that show, Spain repeatedly took aim from various directions, but Emiliano Martinez was equal to it. He saved some. Others he caught. A few he parried. When he did none of those things, he thanked some wayward finishing from the opponents. Then, finally, euphoria.
Torres, somebody who has been trolled before for his inconsistencies in front of goal, lashed home from inside the box after a deep Pedro Porro cross was kept alive by Nico Williams. For the previous 105 minutes and change, they kept trying, but the Argentina bus hadn't budged.
Off the 20th and, ultimately, the final shot Spain took, the Europeans broke the door down, and it was the cue for pandemonium. The Barcelona man took off, his colleagues followed him to the corner flag, which was smashed in the ensuing celebrations. Albiceleste, down to 10 by this point, were forced to play, but their magic and reserves had finally deserted them after performing heist after heist. There would be no daylight robbery.
For vast swathes of the two hours, La Roja, as predicted, monopolised the ball, teased Argentina with possession before their midfield gained total control. It's what they do. Control, an uncommon patience and knowing they have all the tools to grind out opponents.
The South Americans tried their damnedest to bring a certain gamesmanship to proceedings. They had tried to disrupt the flow with their off-the-ball ways; some questionable tackles to disrupt the game and niggling fouls to buy time. Their opponents, however, just kept on suffocating and asphyxiating the three-time champions. They denied them space in behind, recycled the ball amongst themselves before engineering attempts on goal whenever they saw an opening. Their control of proceedings was so total that Messi frequently came looking for the ball but just couldn't find it. It's not often he goes away from a game with zero shots on goal and zero touches in the opposition box.
If Messi was struggling to influence the game, Rodri, Spain's leader, was running the game the way he wanted. Pau Cubarsi, the young centre back, and he frequently started play at the back before the likes of Porro got involved. In the end, the trio accounted for 385 touches and 311 successful passes between them. As a team, Argentina had managed only 357 in two hours. But it was still 0-0 when the clock moved beyond the 90-minute mark. But everything apart from the score suggested a clear superiority to the team in red. When the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of extra-time, Spain had racked up over 550 passes (Argentina had a shade over 250), an xG of 1.25 (0.00), 24 touches in the opposition box (2) and 15 shots (0). It was, as the comms had said on air, one of the most one-sided finals in living memory.
That's when Fernandez, who frequently plays the game on the edge, picked up a deserved second yellow for booting Cubarsi. The moment he was given his marching order, the Albiceleste, who had already wanted to drag this game to penalties, retreated further. This sequence of play even saw Lionel Messi trying to get Marc Cucurella sent off, the captain complaining to the on-field referee that the Spanish defender covered his mouth while talking to him during a confrontation.
Replays suggested there was nothing wrong and play continued. In extra-time, La Roja went for the jugular and Torres and Williams, two substitutes, combined for one of the greatest moments in Spain's football's history. It was then that Argentina had two shots on goal after toiling for 115 minutes in the afternoon heat. Spain, though, managed the situation to the end before sparking scenes of delirium at the end.
The tournament's best team had eclipsed two of the competition's greatest players in the semis (Kylian Mbappe) and the final (Messi). And Spain really were worthy winners. They hadn't trailed for even a single minute.