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2022 ended 13 days earlier. In a distant country called Qatar. There, with the best of the finals that a World Cup can have, in the last and dramatic gasp of that tournament, Argentina became champion again after 36 years.
And right there, on that last most important day of sport in the world, Lionel Messi became this year’s photograph by making his own a trophy that he looked at so many times with those eyes of impossible love. There, at that last moment, ten finished his masterpiece. Just in time. He broke waistlines, broke games, broke records. It was his world cup. Soccer took a long time, but he paid him what he owed.
The debt is also settled for Argentina. Joy took nine World Cups for the other Lionel’s team: Scaloni. But Qatar was also the France of Mbappé, killed in the firing squad of the twelve steps; and it was the unforgettable Morocco, by Hakimi and Bono.
MIRA: Argentine fans eager for the new jersey of the team with the third star
In addition, 2022 was the year of the 14th for Real Madrid, who, at the end of historic comebacks, took the Champions League home with a Frenchman who was able to laugh at the end: Karim Benzema, tournament scorer and Ballon de Prayed.
Like Alexia Putellas, the Spanish soccer player who won it again for the second time in a row.
Golden were the tears of the great Roger Federer. The 41-year-old Swiss said goodbye to tennis after a 24-year career, in which he won 20 Grand Slam titles and spent 310 weeks as ATP number one. Nobody like him.
Just three days before and, at 19 years old, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest number 1 in the history of men’s tennis.
It was a turn and a half year for Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver was proclaimed Formula One world champion for the second consecutive year and made Red Bull, his team, reach the constructors’ title after several seasons. Verstappen also left behind several historical records, the most important being the most victories in a season: 17, surpassing the 13 of the German Michael Schumacher; that resisted breaking for almost two decades.
And the Golden State Warriors reached the NBA title, in a season in which its star, Stephen Curry, the best basketball player in the world, became the greatest triple scorer in the history of the tournament.
But this 2022 already has his photo. And it is Messi and the FIFA Cup that has always been waiting for him.
RECORDS
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya broke the marathon world record in Berlin with a time of 2:01:09. Swimmer Katie Ledecky of the United States won the 800m freestyle gold medal in Budapest, becoming the first to win five consecutive titles in the same event.
