Diego Maradona "encouraged us from heaven," according to Lionel Messi, as Argentina defeated France in the World Cup final on Sunday.

At Lusail Stadium, La Albiceleste defeated the defending champions in a penalty shootout to win their third World Cup, ending a 36-year drought.

After extra time, the clubs were locked in a 3-3 draw as goals from Messi twice and Angel Di Maria once each were offset by a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe.

Messi won his first World Cup in dramatic manner as Argentina won the shootout 4-2 despite Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni missing their penalties.

The World Cup in Qatar is the first since Maradona's death in November 2020, when he famously led Argentina to victory in the World Cup in 1986. This makes the victory all the more poignant.

Messi was relieved that Argentina did not suffer a similar fate against France after falling to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final thanks to a Mario Gotze goal in the 113th minute.

Messi released a message on Instagram, saying: "I always dreamed of being a world champion and I didn't want to stop trying, even knowing that maybe I would never give up.

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A post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi)

"This cup we got is also from all those who did not make it in the previous World Cups we played, like in 2014 in Brazil, where they all deserved it for how they fought until the same final, worked hard and wanted it as much as I did.

"It's also from Diego who encouraged us from heaven.

"And of all those who spent the time always supporting the national team without looking so much at the result but the desire we always put into it, also when things didn't go as we wanted.

"Many times failure is part of the journey and learning and without the disappointments it is impossible for success to come.

"Thank you very much from my heart! Let's go Argentina!!!"

Messi's latest Instagram message came after his photo holding the World Cup trophy became the most popular post in the social media platform's history, amassing 65 million likes.

He followed that up by uploading a picture on Tuesday of him in bed holding the famous trophy, which was liked over 40 million times in the nine hours after it was posted.

After the country's government declared Tuesday a national holiday, Messi and his team-mates landed back in Argentina and were greeted by mass crowds of adoring fans.