Kylian Mbappé’s (23) individual performance wasn’t enough to secure back-to-back World Cup titles with Les Bleus on a night of contrasting emotions for the Paris Saint-Germain forward.
As he was for large periods of the quarter-final against England and the semi-final against Morocco, Mbappé was anonymous for large periods of the game. He found himself isolated, and as his frustration visibly grew in the second half, it looked like Mbappé wouldn’t be adding to his five goals already scored this tournament, nor his one goal scored in France’s 2018 final triumph over Croatia.
However, not only did Mbappé get on the scoresheet, he scored a hat-trick, becoming the first player to do so since Geoff Hurst in 1966. He is also the all-time top-scorer in a FIFA World Cup final with four goals in two appearances. More records tumbled for the former AS Monaco man: Mbappé became the youngest player to score 10 World Cup goals, the first player to score eight or more goals in the tournament since Ronaldo in 2002, the sixth-highest scorer in World Cup history with 12 goals in just 14 games and he is just one goal behind Just Fontaine, who is France’s top-scorer at the World Cup with 13, all of which were scored in 1958.
Mbappé is also only the second Frenchman to win the Golden Boot after Fontaine claimed the award in 1958. Having scored his 36th goal for Les Bleus, Mbappé is now the sixth-highest scorer for France. He passed David Trezeguet thanks to his goals in the final. Finally, Mbappé’s second-half double, scored in just 97 seconds, was the quickest in World Cup final history, beating Ronaldo’s record which had stood since 2002 (2 minutes 12 seconds).
However, his individuals weren’t enough to get France over the line, with Argentina winning their third World Cup on penalties. Judging by the look on Mbappé’s face post-match and during the awarding of his Golden Boot, the collective accolades seemingly mean a lot more than the individual ones.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
