Andy Cryer
BBC Sport in Qatar

The giant video screen in the Lusai Stadium has just shown footage of the Argentina players getting off the team coach. There seemed to be a lot of singing and dancing among the players - and the vocal fans already in here needed no excuse to join in.

And the loudest cheer was reserved for the first glance of Lionel Messi.

What a noise for more than an hour away from kick off...

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Lusail Iconic Stadium

Image source, BBC Sport

Far beneath me in the vast Lusail Stadium, France manager Didier Deschamps and his coaching staff are out on the pitch, tweaking the final details of their plan to triumph today.

It's noisy out there already, so they are probably having to shout at each other.

Deschamps is on the verge of achieving something special in football, a feat only managed by one other person in the history of the game.

If he leads his country to another trophy triumph today he will match Italy's Vittorio Pozzo, who led his country to two World Cup wins (in 1934 and 1938).

Deschamps also has a World Cup win as a player, from 1998.

Not bad, lad.

You've heard of elf on a shelf, now get ready for...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, BBC Sport

As he has throughout the entire tournament, Chris Sutton has provided his prediction for the final.

Here are some snippets from his views on the game...

"France are quite a baffling side in that I watch them with high expectations but am always left a bit bored, and thinking there must be more to come.

" The holders are efficient, rather than exciting, and at the moment they remind me of a Citroen cruising along an old autoroute. They've got a couple of gears left to find, but they might well get all the way to their destination without using them.

"Argentina are the same in that they don't care about having the ball, but are a team powered by emotion rather than efficiency - and Messi's tournament has also been about moments, just like Mbappe's has been for France.

"After losing their first game of the tournament against Saudi Arabia, they have been under pressure ever since.

"They have handled that well, and also the expectations of their supporters - that has proved too much for them in the past but, here, their fans have lifted the team with their outstanding backing and they will outnumber France in the final too."

Sutton's prediction: 1-3

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport at Lusail Stadium

Angel di Maria starts for Argentina. Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez is on the bench.

For France, Raphael Varane is fit to start after illness.

Full team news to come.

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at Lusail Stadium

The fans are flooding into a sunlit Lusail Stadium and - surprise, surprise - swathes of this vast arena are already occupied by Argentina fans.

One large group has been able to place itself right behind the goal at every Argentina game and they have been in place and making a lot of noise more than two hours before kick-off.

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Lusail Iconic Stadium

Image source, BBC Sport

I spoke to former Argentina full-back Pablo Zabaleta yesterday about what it's like to play in a World Cup final - sadly for him he also knows what it's like to lose one.

Zabaleta doesn't remember when Argentina last won the World Cup, in 1986 - he was still in nappies then - but the legend of the man who won it for them lives on.

"Everywhere you go in Argentina, there are flags of Diego Maradona and pictures of him with the World Cup trophy," Zabaleta said. "Wouldn't it be great to see the same picture of Lionel Messi as well."

Andy Cryer
BBC Sport in Qatar

Image source, Getty Images

Not everyone’s backing Argentina here - even though it might feel like it.

Gerard from France is quietly confident about today’s outcome.

‘The more they talk about Messi, the more we can surprise’, he said.

You've heard of elf on a shelf, now get ready for...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Katy Watson
South America correspondent in Buenos Aires

In Buenos Aires it feels like the future happiness of the nation is riding on this World Cup final. Argentina is a country in deep economic crisis. Rampant inflation means so many millions struggle to get through each month - but along comes Lionel Messi and the Argentina team doing exceptionally well to get to the final and everyone here now seems to have parked their worries and instead are focussing on football.

“This country has been hit so hard, the Cup is uniting us, we have this personality, the best footballer in the world and he’s loved everywhere,” says bar owner Luis Sarni.

Beyond Messi though, the entire team is doing its country proud.

“They say the football pitches don’t vibrate, they have a heartbeat,” Luis says. “Every Argentinian sees themselves as a coach, everyone has a different opinion, but the moment we celebrate, we cry, we cry a lot - and hug!”

For young Martin Rojas, an Argentinian who lives in France but is back on holiday visiting family, Sunday’s match means a lot.

“It’s my dream - not since I was born in the 90s, have I seen Argentina the champion of the world,” he says. “Of course for Messi it’s his last world cup - it’s a great last chance for him.”

And it’s a chance for Argentina to feel proud of their beautiful, yet troubled country.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Argentinian football journalist Nicolás Rotnitzky speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "We are an emotional country. We live things in a very intense way. The World Cup for us is the biggest thing in the world.

"Football is super big in our country. There is nothing bigger than this, everybody there is waiting just to see Messi lifting the trophy. We are expecting that more than to see the team lifting the trophy. We all want Messi to win the only trophy that he is missing because there is nothing bigger than him.

"The people are super excited about that. Everybody is in the streets, everybody is partying."

France manager Didier Deschamps said it does not bother him "many people" want Argentina and Lionel Messi to lift the World Cup when they meet on Sunday.

Deschamps is aiming to become just the second manager to win successive World Cups after Les Bleus' triumph in 2018.

"We are trying to live with it, without going too far and getting carried away, but doing what is necessary," he said.

Deschamps, who also captained France to victory in 1998, was asked whether his squad's injuries, the virus and the "will for Messi to win" had left him feeling "alone in the world".

"I often get that feeling," he replied. "But I am fine being alone. That doesn't bother me.

"I don't have any particular worries or stress about the game. When you prepare for a game like this you need to keep your focus, remain composed, but, of course, in a World Cup final especially you have the match and the whole context behind that.

"Of course, the objective is to come out with the title.

"I know Argentina and many people around the world, and maybe some French people as well, would hope that Lionel Messi could win the World Cup, but we're going to do everything to achieve our objective."

You've heard of elf on a shelf, now get ready for...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

From his first in a 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 to the penalty against Croatia just a few days ago, watch all of Messi's World Cup goals in one place...

Clearly, Lionel Messi will want to complete the job today. Even if he doesn't, he has left his mark on this tournament.

His display in the semi-final win over Croatia was something else, capped by a stunning run to leave arguably the tournament's best defender in his dust before supplying Julian Alvarez was Argentina's third goal.

Watch behind-the-scenes footage and match action from that stunning semi-final performance below...

Image source, BBC Sport

Lionel Messi's World Cup story is almost over but, however it ends, I know things are going to be a lot less enjoyable without him.

Whatever happens in Sunday's final, which will be his last match on this global stage, Messi's performances in Qatar have cemented his place in the hearts of football fans around the world.

There was a beautiful moment after Argentina's win over Croatia in the semi-finals, where a reporter told Messi that he has made his mark on everyone's life, and that is more important than the result against France and winning his first World Cup.

She was absolutely right. People always go on at me about how much I talk about Messi but I make no apologies for that, and I never will, because watching him has given me so much joy - nearly two decades of absolute delight in fact.

He is 35 now, and we haven't got much longer of him left, so let's savour every second.

Read more here.

As it's Christmas, and it's also the World Cup, let's play a little festive game during this live.

I hope you're all familiar with the book The Elf on the Shelf, which is a Christmas story about... guess what... an elf on a shelf. But it is has since become an online challenge, with people posting a picture of something on/in something it rhymes with. Get it?

Anyway, I'll set you an easy one to start with, so you get the idea...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Feel free to use the thumbs on these entries to show that you've got it.

What makes this clash between Argentina's Messi and France's Mbappe even more intriguing is that while it is a battle for the World Cup trophy, it is also a personal battle for the Golden Boot.

Both players have five goals each in this tournament, with Messi leading the race courtesy of one extra assist (three to two).

But wait... what's this? On four goals each are Messi's team-mate Julian Alvarez and Mbappe's fellow French forward Olivier Giroud.

So this is far from a two-horse race.