A World Cup, hosted by a nation at war with one of the participating countries, in an age of bitter polarisation, ended in contradiction rather than triumph.

Minutes after Spain’s final whistle, Leandro Paredes had Eric Garcia by the throat and was sent off for it. Nahuel Molina appeared to punch Spain captain Rodri as he ran past. Lionel Scaloni had to physically prise his own coaching staff off Spain’s players. It was, by several accounts, a disgraceful way for Argentina’s tournament to end. And in the same few minutes, on the same pitch, Lamine Yamal walked over to a Messi sitting alone on the turf, and held him.

Both things happened. Neither cancels the other out. If this World Cup proved anything about football and the world pressing in around it, it is that the sport does not transcend its politics and its ugliness so much as absorb them, and still, somehow, keep finding room for grace.

Spain’s tactical masterclass shut Messi out of the final; Argentina, ten men for the closing stretch after Enzo Fernandez’s second yellow, couldn’t engineer one last escape.

It was one-sided for long periods, but both sides had fought hard, and the frustration boiled over the instant the whistle went. What followed the brawl mattered more than the brawl itself. One Barcelona legend and another in the making, in the same frame: a photograph worth explaining to anyone who thinks football has stopped being able to surprise........

© Indian Express