Kylian Mbappé's Finest Hour
Lusail, 18th December 2022
The 2022 FIFA World Cup final in Qatar was a spectacle. It was a breathless, back-and-forth encounter that will go down in World Cup history. And rightly so.
While Argentina ultimately lifted the trophy, and it was a certain Lionel Messi who took the plaudits, it was a Frenchman who delivered historic individual brilliance: Kylian Mbappé.
In a match-up that often felt like a duel between the greatest talents of two distinct generations, Mbappé's electrifying display transcended his side’s defeat, marking it out as his finest hour in a blue shirt.
For much of the opening hour, the reigning world champions were simply overwhelmed. The Albiceleste, driven on by the prospect of seeing Lionel Messi place the cherry on top of the glorious cake that is his illustrious career, dominated proceedings. They eased into a comfortable two-goal lead thanks to a Messi penalty and a tidy finish from Ángel Di María.
On the other hand, Les Bleus were lacking any kind of dynamism, and Mbappé, positioned out wide on the left, struggled to find the space to stretch his legs and run at a susceptible Argentinian defence. The dream of back-to-back World Cups seemed to be slipping through France’s fingers with every passing minute.
With just over ten minutes remaining in normal time, French forward Randal Kolo Muani was dragged down in the box by Nicolás Otamendi. A lifeline appeared as a penalty was awarded by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak. Mbappé, with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, stepped up to the spot.
He fired a powerful strike towards the bottom left corner of the goal. The ball slapped across goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez’s palm, but eventually nestled in the net. French President Emmanuel Macron punched the air high in the stands of the Lusail Stadium as his country was offered a glimmer of hope.
Just a minute and a half later, France’s Kingsley Coman robbed Lionel Messi of possession straight from the restart. Coman started the counter attack, finding midfielder Adrien Rabiot open.
Rabiot lofted a high ball out to Mbappé on the left, who nodded it down to his colleague in attack, Marcus Thuram. Thuram flicked the ball into the penalty area with a single touch, and Mbappé struck it on the volley. The football sailed past a helpless Emi Martínez and the game was level at 2-2.
The Lusail Stadium erupted, with the French contingent finding their voice, and the momentum of the final swung violently. From the brink of defeat, Mbappé had almost single-handedly hauled his team back into contention.
Extra time saw more twists and turns, with Messi once again putting Argentina ahead. The ball found its way past a sprawling Hugo Lloris and over the line during a goalmouth scramble. Jules Koundé, fighting against his own momentum as he tumbled into his own net, hooked the ball clear, but it was too little, too late.
In the 118th minute, an Mbappé shot on the edge of the penalty area was blocked by the elbow of the onrushing Gonzalo Montiel. Referee Marciniak had no hesitation in pointing to the spot once more. Kylian Mbappé had no hesitation in grabbing the football and marching up to it.
Showing no visible sign of nerves, he calmly waited for the whistle before hammering it to Martínez’s right and sending him the wrong way.
Again, Mbappé had brought France back from the dead. He had also completed a sensational hat-trick, becoming only the second player to do so in a men's World Cup final after Geoff Hurst in ‘66.
Though it was joy for Argentina and heartbreak for France after the penalty shootout, the individual performance of Kylian Mbappé was nothing short of monumental. Three goals, two of them under insanely high-pressure circumstances.
He was the focal point of every French attack in the final. His pace, his skill, and crucially, his unwavering belief, were the only reason France were even in with a chance of lifting the World Cup.
Even in defeat, Mbappé cemented his status as a superstar. He ended the Qatari-hosted tournament as Golden Boot winner. But it was in the Lusail final, when all seemed lost, that he really announced himself as a player for the big stage. It was a performance that, despite the outcome, will be remembered as Kylian Mbappé's finest hour.