Twenty-five fouls. Two shots. None on target. The former champions' defence of their crown ended with one dismissal during the match and another after it.
There are narrow defeats, and there are scorelines that conceal an abdication. Argentina lost this World Cup final 1-0. That was the only part of the evening that was close.
Spain took 20 shots to Argentina's two and put 12 on target while their opponents managed none. Argentina committed 25 fouls to Spain's 21. It was the most by any team in a World Cup match since Argentina's 26 against France in the 2022 final.
Four years ago, Argentina's 26 fouls came in a final in which they also scored three times. This time the aggression survived and the attack disappeared.
Emiliano Martinez kept the game scoreless deep into extra time, but Spain's pressure never relented. Spain kept shooting; Argentina offered almost nothing going forward. When Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute, the score caught up with the match.
Argentina arrived under scrutiny after their semi-final against England, when 12 first-half fouls produced only one booking for an Argentina player. Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson accused the referee of extreme leniency, while unsupported conspiracy theories online claimed Argentina were being favored. Neither established favoritism. The final offered a separate conclusion: Argentina again accumulated fouls and then lost disciplinary control as the game escaped them.
Leandro Paredes was booked after pushing Dani Olmo. Enzo Fernandez was dismissed for a second caution at the end of normal time. After Spain had won, Paredes received a red card following another confrontation in which he pushed Spanish players. Argentina's attacking failure and loss of discipline had become impossible to separate.
Spain committed 21 fouls, so the totals alone cannot sustain the contrast. The wider record can: Spain created every shot on target and received no cards; Argentina collected four cautions, had Enzo Fernandez dismissed for two of them, received another red after the match and produced no shot on target. This was not streetwise resistance from a clever underdog. It was an impoverished performance from the defending world champions.
And it should not obscure how good Spain were.
Argentina's aggression did not disrupt Spain's decision-making. Rodri and Fabian Ruiz kept finding the next pass. Pau Cubarsi and Aymeric Laporte kept Messi far from Unai Simon. Luis de la Fuente changed his forwards and trusted the same approach. Nico Williams helped keep the decisive attack alive, Torres, another substitute, finished it.
It was the final proof of Spain's range. They could play quickly, remain patient or control space without the ball. After drawing their opening game, they beat every opponent placed before them, including Portugal, Belgium, France and Argentina - the toughest run to the title possible! They conceded one goal in eight matches, a record for a world champion, and extended their unbeaten run to 38 games.
The final will be remembered as one of the tournament's worst spectacles. That judgment should not be divided equally. One team created every shot on target and kept searching for the goal. The other, a team of champions with Lionel Messi in its side, found more ways to stop play than to threaten it.
By the end, the former champions had left an extraordinary numerical portrait of their night: 25 fouls, two shots, none on target and two red cards, one shown after play had ended. Their defense of the crown had produced far more stoppages than attacking threat.
Spain did not turn a poor final into a classic. They kept playing through it and took the World Cup. Argentina's fouling and the final confrontation helped make the night ugly - Spain's achievement was to make sure ugly never became equal.