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Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer agree Lionel Messi robbed after World Cup final
Jul 20 2026 00:48 · By James Goldman · 22 Reads
Lionel Messi was handed his runners-up medal by Donald Trump (Picture: Getty)
Alan Shearer
and
Wayne Rooney
have urged
FIFA
to rethink their rules after
Kylian Mbappe
beat
Lionel Messi
to the
World Cup
Golden Boot.
The France striker took his tally for the tournament to 10 with two goals in Saturday’s 6-4 defeat to
England
in the Bronze Medal match.
Messi, meanwhile, it what might turn out to be his final World Cup match, was unable to make an impression against winners Spain, whose imperious defence didn’t even allow Argentina a shot on target over the course of 120 minutes.
The Argentina captain was, therefore, left marooned on eight goals and two adrift of Mbappe, but two former England captains felt he had been hard done by and believe goals scored in the play-off match shouldn’t count to the overall total.
‘I was just looking at yesterday’s game the way it was played like a testimonial,’ Shearer told the BBC before kick-off.
‘France are out and Mbappe has scored his two goals. France are out.
‘Lionel Messi is playing in a World Cup final against a
Spain team
that have only conceded one goal and that is a lot more difficult.’
Kylian Mbappe has won his second World Cup Golden Boot (Credits: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
After watching a tearful Messi, who would have won the Golden Boot had he remained level with Mbape given he registered more assists, collect his runners-up medal from Donald Trump, Rooney echoed those sentiments.
‘I just think France got knocked out of the tournament and had the third and fourth play-off game,’ said Rooney.
‘Listen, I don’t (think they should count). They do obviously but I think that’s very unfair on Messi.’
Lionel Messi was left heartbroken after the final whistle (Credits: Pixel8000)
Rodri won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player (Credits: REUTERS)
After celebrating their 1-0 victory in the final Spain also scooped all of the individual player award.
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