19 year-old Kylian Mbappe put up a man of the match performance on Saturday afternoon as France rolled over Jorge Sampaoli’s Argentina in Kazan.
Prior to this round of 16 fixture, Le Bleus had an unimpressive record against Argentina but the determined and talented young French team put in a good shift to ensure that the records didn’t matter this time as they defeated World Cup favorites Argentina 4-3 to advance to the quarter-finals.
After a narrow escape against Nigeria, Argentina were made to pay for their lack of pace and co-ordination in defence as Mbappe earned a penalty early in the first half after a blistering run from the half way line half into the Argentine defence with Rojo bringing down the PSG winger.
Greizmann converted from the spot to give France an early lead. France soon reduced the tempo after the goal and in the 41st minute, a long range strike from Di Maria brought the Argentines right back into the contest as Lionel Messi and his team mates ended the half on a high.
In-experience began to creep in for the young French team who began giving away freekicks in vital areas of the pitch. It didn’t take long before they were punished after a Messi strike deflected off Mercado beyond Lloris in goal, to give Argentina the lead in the 46th minute.
From then on, the young Le Bleus team went on the offensive which resulted in a beautiful daisy cutter of a strike from the right boot of Benjamin Pavard to draw France level. Mbappe then added a third and a fourth goal in less than 5 mins to ensure victory for the French team.
Argentina tried to rally back after substitute Aguero’s 93rd minute strike but it was not enough as Messi and his team mates were sent packing from Russia.
Apart from putting in a man of the match performance, Mbappe’s brace seemed to have earned in some place in history after that commanding performance against Argentina.
