Argentina faces defending champion France in men's World Cup final

It's now or never for Lionel Messi.

The Argentina superstar's once-in-a-generation career will be defined — for many — by whether he leads his country to the World Cup title.

Can he finally, at the age of 35, win soccer's biggest prize to secure his place alongside Pele and Diego Maradona in the pantheon of the game's greatest ever players?

Standing in his way is France, the defending champion, and Kylian Mbappe, the player best positioned to take over from Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as soccer's marquee name.

That's if he hasn't already.

Messi will lead an Argentina team containing Angel Di Maria, who starts for the first time since sustaining a foot injury against Poland in the final round of group games.

Di Maria takes the place of Leandro Paredes in midfield as Argentina again rolls out a 4-4-2 formation, with Messi one of the two forwards. Nicolas Tagliafico is preferred to Marcos Acuna at left back.

Mbappe starts up front for France alongside Olivier Giroud, who has overcome a minor knee injury. Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot come in for Ibrahima Konate and Youssouf Fofana, respectively.

Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico; Angel Di Maria, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister; Julian Alvarez, Lionel Messi.

France: Hugo Lloris; Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Aurelien Tchouameni, Antoine Griezmann, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud.