Both Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi have won and lost in World Cup finals, therefore it would be difficult for either of them to make this team of players who have done the same.
Messi led Argentina to victory in Qatar and is now among a select group of athletes who have played in both a World Cup final victory and defeat. Kylian Mbappe, a member of his unsuccessful PSG side, entered the exclusive group after winning the trophy in 2018.
There have been a few outstanding players before them; here is an XI made up of the other stars who played on both winning and losing teams.
Goalkeeper: Dino Zoff
Following Italy’s triumph over Germany in 1982, Dino Zoff became only the second goalie in history to captain a World Cup-winning team. Gianpiero Combi was the first back in 1934, and because Zoff was 40 when he won the award, he might have believed his chance to emulate his fellow countryman had already passed. The legendary Juventus player sat on the sidelines in 1970 as an era-appropriate Brazil team destroyed Gli Azzurri 4-1.
Try name the German goalkeeper who was a member of the team that finished second to England in 1966 but won on home soil eight years later if you’re ready for a goalkeeping challenge.
Right Back: Cafu
Cafu, Brazil’s captain from 1982 to 2002, guided his country to its sixth World Cup triumph after defeating Germany in Yokohama. After replacing an injured Jorginho in the 1994 championship game, it was his second triumph in the contest (more on that shortly). The roving full-side back’s lost to the hosts France in 1998, but four years later, Ronaldo’s comeback (which will be covered in greater detail shortly) allowed Cafu to win the cup once more.
Center Back: Franco Baresi
When Zoff joined the squad in 1982, Franco Baresi was only beginning his illustrious career. When he was 22, he was an underutilized member of the team since Gaetano Scirea, Fulvio Collovati, and the not-so-gentle Claudio Gentile were favored as the team’s leaders due to their experience. Baresi, a veteran by 1994, led the American team to the final as they advanced under his leadership. As the team’s talisman Roberto Baggio did to hand the South Americans the championship, the AC Milan icon ultimately missed his penalty in the shootout against Brazil.
Center Back: Franz Beckenbauer
The Three Lions won the match in extra time, but a youthful Franz Beckenbauer, the new face of German football in 1966, kept England’s star Bobby Charlton quiet during the match at Wembley. Eight years later, Johan Cruyff’s Dutch team was defeated by Der Kaiser’s nation in the championship match in Munich. Beckenbauer finally won the trophy after winning a silver medal in 1966 and placing third in Mexico in 1970.
Left Back: Nilton Santos
Nilton Santos, a player for Brazil in 1950, was a part of a national catastrophe that followed the nation’s shocking loss to Uruguay in the tournament’s decisive game at the Maracana. The most successful team in the competition’s history wasn’t yet a World Cup winner, but they were the favorites to win the Jules Rimet on their home field for the first time. Many people, including the father of a young Pele, broke down in tears after their shock loss to their South American foes. Eight years later, when he lined up beside Santos to help Brazil thrash Sweden in the 1958 final, the future superstar promised his father that he would bring the trophy home.
Central Midfield: Lothar Matthaus
Beckenbauer is joined in this squad by Lothar Matthaus, the captain of the German team who defeated Argentina in the World Cup final and a player he managed in 1990. In a somber contest in Rome, left-back Andreas Brehme scored a penalty with five minutes remaining, allowing Diego Maradona to lose possession of the trophy he had won four years earlier. La Albiceleste defeated Germany and Matthaus in a thrilling 3-2 victory in the 1986 final in Mexico.
Central Midfield: Luis Monti
Being a starter in both the original World Cup championship game in 1930 and the tournament’s championship game in 1934, Luis Monti was the first player to play in two World Cup finals. The most peculiar aspect of his tale is that Monti played for the Argentina squad that fell to Uruguay in 1930, but Argentina didn’t go to the final in 1934; they were eliminated by Sweden in the round of 16. Fortunately for Monti, the rules of the game surrounding representing different national teams at the time were far more tolerant, and as he was an Italian citizen, he started playing for Gli Azzurri in 1932. The same thing happened to Raimundo Orsi in 1929, and the two Argentine-born stars helped Italy win the first of their four World Cups by defeating Czechoslovakia.
Central Midfield: Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane had a perfect 1998 World Cup final, scoring twice and winning the man of the match award as France defeated defending champion Brazil 3-0 at home to win the tournament for the first time ever. Contrarily, the 2006 championship game for the legendary Real Madrid player couldn’t have gone any worse. After receiving a notorious red card for headbutting Marco Materazzi, Zidane was forced to watch as his decimated team painfully lost to Italy on penalties in Berlin.
Forward: Ronaldo
Following the 1998 final, Zidane was feeling great, but Ronaldo, the standout player for Brazil, was having a terrible year. The young striker gained attention before to the game after initially being omitted from the starting lineup because of a rumored convulsive fit. He was reinstated just before the game began, but because the French outperformed his team, he had little effect. Ronaldo made amends four years later in Japan and South Korea by scoring twice in the championship game, taking home the man-of-the-match prize, and collecting the Golden Boot.
Forward: Diego Maradona
Debates about whether Messi has surpassed his hero Diego Maradona now that he has won the World Cup will go on for ever, but it is quite possible to argue that the Argentina team of 1986 was weaker than today’s champions, with Maradona frequently credited with dragging the team to victory. Die Mannschaft, led by the captain of the team that defeated Germany in the final, exacted revenge on Diego and his friends four years later in the final of 1990.
Forward: Thierry Henry
The Arsenal hero also had to endure the humiliation of a group-stage exit in 2010 as the French team imploded in South Africa. Like Zidane, Thierry Henry was victorious in 1998 and dejected after defeat in 2006. The World Cup’s all-time leading scorer Miroslav Klose, who finally won the championship in 2014 after two third-place finishes in 2006 and 2010 and a silver medal in 2002, are other forwards who qualify for this team. Bebeto is a baby-celebrating player with a win in 1994 and a loss in 1998, another forward for this team.
