HERO MBAPPE COMES OF AGE
Teenager leaves Messi in the shade after his perfect 10 performance allows France to dream
THE talk had been about a No 10 who was supposedly predestined to drive his nation on and on, confounding every setback along the road. ‘El General de Gol’ was how Buenos Aires paper ‘Ole’ encapsulated Argentinian matchday belief in Lionel Messi.
But it was the individual wearing a blue 10 who won a searing, breathless game with a performance which may well come to define this tournament.
Kylian Mbappe capitalised on a creaking, aged, inadequate defence to score twice in four devastating second-half minutes.
But his signature moment was the devastating run through the heart of the Argentina side which sent France on their way.
Some perspective is required in the aftermath. The Argentina side who trooped out of the stadium in single file last night — like participants in a death march — were as poor as their dismal group stage performances had implied.
Javier Mascherano may very well be followed into international retirement — which he announced last night — by Messi and Angel di Maria. There is a long road ahead.
Yet France look as if they are on the opposite trajectory. They were balanced, ice cold when improbably finding themselves 2-1 behind early in the second half and are blessed with a cluster of world-class players. It was the steadfast N’Golo Kante who did most to deal with Messi (right), closing off the corridors of space he sought.
Argentina’s 10 refused to go quietly, but he couldn’t bend the game to his will. Mbappe, asked if his performance could lead to him being considered a world-class player, said: ‘Of course. In the World Cup, you have the top players so it’s a chance to show what you can do.’ When asked to compare Mbappe with the Brazilian Ronaldo, France manager Didier Deschamps said: ‘I think he is even quicker.’ Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli — whose 14-month tenure seems doomed — had insisted that his players must not allow their more youthful opponents the chance to run into their territory and display their pace. All the good intentions were reduced to dust in the five minutes it took 19-year-old Mbappe to start running at the defence like an express train. Nicolas Otamendi knew all about that devastating acceleration. He witnessed it when the forward, in Monaco colours, tore Manchester City apart in the Champions League 18 months ago. But he and Marcos Rojo were not remotely equipped to cope when Ever Banega offered up possession to the PSG player in the game’s 12th minute. Mbappe eased past the ageing Mascherano and Rojo was so powerless to halt him that even an attempt to haul him down initially came to nothing. An assault which began outside of the area was still going on when the player entered it. There have been few more clear cut penalties than the one which Antoine Griezmann slotted left footed to Franco Armani’s left.
It was the balance in the French side which made them look so superior. Kante was the heartbeat of a secure midfield and Paul Pogba the axis between defence and attacking movement — not always impeccable in possession but a major contributor. It was he who saw the danger Mbappe might wreak and had the passing range to exploit it.
When he sought the forward with a probing long ball soon after the goal, Nicolas Tagliafico brought Mbappe to ground. Pogba’s next missile went in search of Griezmann, who whipped around Rojo but could not find a telling cross.
Messi was on the game’s margins and when Cristian Pavon levelled crosses, there was no striker in the six-yard box to receive them. All of which made Angel di Maria’s strike five minutes before the break so priceless, when it arrived.
His own tournament had been indifferent, bringing just one shot on goal. But the French allowed him a few yards space, 30 yards out, and he arced a left foot shot past Samuel Umtiti and beyond the dive of Hugo Lloris. No goal had come from longer range at this tournament.
The nature of Argentina’s second goal gave life to the sense that they must have some greater force behind them. Di Maria nutmegged Benjamin Pavard and drew a freekick, which had been headed clear by Pogba when Messi’s speculative shot was turned in by Pavon.
But the truth kept telling.
Argentina’s lead lasted for nine minutes, before Pavard redeemed himself, slicing across the ball which reached him from Blaise Matuidi to despatch a sublime half-volley which flew beyond Armani. Then, Mbappe’s four-minute contribution which turned the game back into this nation’s grasp and marked him as a player to be talked about for years.
He seized a loose ball in the box after Matiuidi’s shot was blocked, took it to Armani’s left and drove in. His second was the culmination of a four-pass move which cut apart a failing Argentina defence. Matuidi and Olivier Giroud manouvered the ball into his right-hand side of the area. The forward did the rest.
Messi made a vain late attempt to wrest the game back, running at the defence and twice threatening to score before whipping a cross which sub Sergio Aguero headed home.
But this match belonged to a teenager, not a 31-year-old. Mbappe looks like a No 10 for all the ages.