Lionel Messi finally achieved his World Cup dream as Argentina won their third crown on penalties in one of the greatest finals in the tournament's history.

Argentina won the shootout 4-2 after a spectacular game which developed into the much-anticipated confrontation between the 35-year-old maestro Messi and his France opposite number Kylian Mbappe.

France's own superstar scored a hat-trick - the first in a Fifa World Cup final since 1966 - but still ended up on the losing side at Lusail Stadium.

Messi looked to be securing the one major honour missing from his glittering collection in comfort as Argentina cruised into a two-goal lead.

This all changed when an explosive intervention from Mbappe, who scored two goals inside two minutes late on, turned this frantic, magnificent match for the ages on its head.

Messi had given Argentina the lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute following Ousmane Dembele's foul on Angel di Maria. It made him the first player in World Cup history to score in the group stage, last 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final of a single tournament.

From pony express to phony excess.

Spitfire SurpriseSpitfire Mark IX MH434 is one of the most famous of today's flying Spitfires and is a combat veteran of WW2 and post war conflicts.

On this day, 19th July 1996, the pilot Ray Hanna decided to scare a TV documentary crew to death by taking off, hugging the ground, and pouncing on the crew while they recorded a link for a documentary on the 60th Anniversary of the Spitfire for American TV. I had a camera with me on the day - I was producing the TV crew - and looking for the aircraft through my lens it suddenly appeared and I clicked the shutter before dropping to the ground. The video of the moment is on Youtube with copious expletives (https://youtu.be/4iOoiEbtf2w) if you want to see what happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brd44OS0Ueo

Ray Hanna was one of the best warbird pilots of his generation, formerly in the Royal Airforce he had been leader of the aerobatic display team the Red Arrows and once he became a pilot of classic aircraft he and MH434 were the go to team for numerous Hollywood film directors.

When it came to low flying stunts Ray was the best there was and the secret was decades of experience with the aircraft, faultless expertise and meticulous preparation. As for my photo, that was luck...
Martin Stockham 1996 and 2016