France finally sparked into life at the World Cup and booked a quarter-final berth as Kylian Mbappe’s brace saw them beat Argentina 4-3.
Antoine Griezmann fired them in front from the penalty spot early on before Angel Di Maria’s brilliant long-range effort drew La Albiceleste level.
Argentina then took the lead when Gabriel Mercado deflected in Lionel Messi’s effort, but Les Bleus stormed back in front via Benjamin Pavard’s contender for goal of the tournament and Mbappe’s driven first.
The Paris Saint-Germain star then finished a fine team move to make it 4-2, with Sergio Aguero’s late header proving in vain.
Here, we analyse the performance of France’s flamboyant striker Mbappe, who truly stamped his mark on the 2018 World Cup.
STATISTICS
30-SECOND REPORT
France had flattered to deceive so far, but it was almost as if the whistle to get the last 16 under way was the catalyst for Didier Deschamps’ giants to rise from their slumber. Mbappe was certainly wide awake from the start, tearing Argentina’s porous defence to shreds throughout.
His blistering pace forced Marcos Rojo to concede an early penalty while his second-half brace settled the contest. France have finally turned up and it’s their youngest player leading the way.
GOT RIGHT
Movement – He was constantly alert whenever France were in possession, looking to stretch an Argentine defence who have looked alarmingly suspicious. His run for the Griezmann penalty looked unstoppable, indeed only a foul from Rojo could end it. His run and touch to get onto the end of Pogba’s sublime pass which then led to a free-kick shortly after was a joy to behold.
Making a difference – Arguably the finest young talent on the planet, but we’d been waiting for him to really arrive at the World Cup. We’re waiting no longer as he put France back in the lead at 3-2 and then finished Argentina off.
GOT WRONG
Passing – It’s difficult to criticise a man who’s essentially won his team the match, but look beyond the obvious and there’s still much Mbappe can improve on. His passing accuracy is the glaringly obvious one, having put up a woeful figure of 70.8 per cent.
Only striker Olivier Giroud and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris were worse of the starting XI. And while his finishing was of the highest order and his speed posed insurmountable problems, he’ll need to fine tune the accuracy of his passes for the last eight.
VERDICT
His Olympian speed tempted Rojo into a rugby tackle which resulted in the opener after only 13 minutes. His sublime touch and skill then saw him find space in a crowded box to fire France back in front as both player and team turned it on after finding themselves 2-1 down. Mbappe was then on the end of a sumptuous team move, side-footing in stylishly to put the cherry on top of a stunning move that started with Lloris.
RATING: 9/10
All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com
