Mbappe announced himself on the biggest stage as France beat Croatia 4-2 in the 2018 World Cup final at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, securing the country’s second World Cup title, 20 years after their first.
Mbappe scored France’s fourth goal, striking low from 25 yards to make it 4-1, becoming only the second teenager to score in a World Cup final after Pele in 1958, and setting up Paul Pogba’s earlier third goal with a driving run.
The final was one of the most eventful in World Cup history. Mario Mandzukic put through his own net from an Antoine Griezmann free kick after just 18 minutes, the first own goal ever scored in a World Cup final, before Ivan Perisic levelled with a fine strike.
Griezmann restored France’s lead from the penalty spot after a controversial VAR review adjudged Perisic to have handled the ball, one of the first major decisions overturned by the technology at a World Cup.
Pogba and Mbappe then put the result beyond doubt in the second half, before Mandzukic completed a rare double, scoring at both ends of the same final, after capitalising on a mistake from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
The win made Didier Deschamps only the third man in history to win the World Cup as both player and coach, following Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer, and confirmed Mbappe as the standout young talent of his generation.
Photo: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
