DON’T WORRY BE MBAPPE
French kid has Pele laugh after Argy KO
France wonderkid Kylian Mbappe laughed off talk that he’s the new Pele after he left Lionel Messi in his shade.
The 19-year- old became the first teenager to score twice in a World Cup match since the Brazilian legend in the 1958 final.
His stunning double led the France fightback last night after Argentina had built up a 2-1 lead in the first last-16 clash at Russia 2018. Benjamin Pavard’s stunning strike level led the score – then it was over to the £ 166m new PSG star to write his own bit of history in the space of four minutes.
First he swept i nt o space before driving a shot past Franco A rmani to score then he f inished a pacy French counter-attack with clinical style.
Mbappe said: “It’s flattering to be the second teenager to score twice in a World Cup match after Pele – but let’s put things in context.
“Pele is another category but it’s good to be among these people.
“At a World Cup you have all the top-level players so it’s an opportunity to show what you can do and what your abilities are.”
Argentine sub Sergio Aguero got a goal back in injury-time to set up a sensational finish – but it was all over for the South Americans.
Their boss Jorge Sampaoli last night announced he will consider his future while midfielder Javier Mascherano announced his retirement.
And what are the chances of Messi staying with the international team?
He has now played 756 minutes of football in World Cup knockout-stage matches but has not yet scored.
France manager Didier Deschamps praised his side’s character for fighting back after trailing to goals from Angel Di Maria and Gabriel Mercado after Antoine Griezmann’s penalty.
For a moment after taking the lead the Argentines looked back to their swashbuckling best.
But Deschamps said: “We were up against a highly-experienced team but we showed character to keep fighting at 2-1 down.
“There is an excellent mentality in this group and we did everything to go further. I’m very proud.”
France have the youngest squad in the knockout phase but made up for a lack of experience with raw talent and character.
Les Bleus were comfortable winners of Group C but never needed top gear against Australia, Peru and Denmark.
It looked yesterday like they had paced themselves – with super-quick Mbappe the embodiment of their fast, fluid counter-attacking display.
Griezmann had already hit the bar before he gave France the lead from the spot in the 13th minute after Mbappe was fouled by Marcos Rojo.
Paul Pogba fired over the bar and France looked up for it before Di Maria changed the momentum four minutes before the break, smashing home a brilliant left-footed shot from range.
Three minutes into the second half Mercado’s def lected effort found the net – but the response from France proved devastating.
First Pavard let f ly with a rightfooted effort that was every inch the equal of Di Maria’s strike to draw France level in the 57th minute.
Six minutes later a cross from Lucas Hernandez was only half-cleared and fell to Mbappe.
He took a touch before slotting home beneath Armani. Four minutes later the kid was fed by Olivier G i roud and fired in his second. Aguero stooped to head home Messi’s cross into the box two minutes into injury time, giving Argentina hope of an outrageous recovery.
They pushed forward desperately but you sense that Messi could have handed over his mantle to a new superstar of the game.
Sampaoli said: “It was a difficult game. We have not achieved our goal in Russia. I’m sad, frustrated – but I won’t decide my future today.
“All this is very recent. It’s too soon to analyse mistakes we could have made. I don’t like the word failure but it’s very frustrating.”
Former Liverpool and Barca ace Mascherano said: “My story is over – from now I am only a fan of my country.”