From our Special Envoy in Doha,
Seeing him cross the mixed zone of the Lusail stadium like a soul in pain, his mouth pinched and his eyes unfocused, almost an hour after the trophy was presented to Argentina’s Leo Messi, we wanted to put away our ethics in the closet to go and give Kylian Mbappé a huge hug, the unfortunate hero of a final that will remain engraved in us forever. And then, we remembered the welcome given by French number 10 a few minutes earlier to Emmanuel Macron who, with a lot of slaps on the face and (too) wandering hands, once again tried to appropriate a moment that did not belong to him. It was almost indecent.
Because, at that time, Mbappé wanted nothing more than to be alone to digest this defeat in the World Cup final, a quest for which he had been preparing for many months and which he thought he could accomplish. for the second time in four years. Not a look, therefore, for the President of the Republic, and a face bruised by psychological pain. The same as he displayed a little earlier on the podium when going to collect the competition’s top scorer trophy, a long way of the cross under the boos of an Argentine public who has decidedly less elegance than stars on his shirt.
“Kylian left his mark on this final, but not the total mark he wanted, hence his sadness at the end, like all the players”, summarized Didier Deschamps very well in a press conference after the encounter. A giant footprint, even. A first time by taking responsibility on peno, to come and put the Blues back in a match in which they had not yet taken part, a second time about sixty seconds later, to equalize with a phenomenal volley with the right foot, a third time, finally, to bring the French team to 3-3 (after the goal of 3-2 signed Messi), still on penalty, after a shot blocked by the hand of Montiel. “We came back into the match thanks to the talent of Kylian, who was able to carry the team at an important moment in the match”, thus greeted Hugo Lloris in the mixed zone on Sunday evening.
Records in shambles that will not console him
A hat-trick, therefore, in the World Cup final at not even 24 years old (he will have them on Tuesday), the first at this stage of the competition since Geoffrey Hurst in 1966 with England against the FRG. A record, one more, for the one who confirms if necessary his status as technical and mental leader of the France team. At the end of the match, the tricolor captain also symbolically gave him the keys to the truck.
There is a handover between a generation that is ending its career and a new generation of players led by Kylian, who had a strong leadership in this tournament and even more so in this final,” said Hugo Lloris. .
With eight goals scored during this World Cup, Mbappé therefore finished as the competition’s top scorer, ahead of Messi (7), his club teammate at Paris Saint-Germain with whom the reunion will be watched in the coming weeks to see how the Frenchman has digested the disappointment. Eight goals that make twelve, if we add the four scored in Russia four years earlier. All of this out of a total of fourteen matches, which is truly mind-blowing and which already places him in sixth place in the general ranking of top scorers in the World Cup, tied with Pellé who himself needed four World Cups. to achieve this. And a small goal from Messi (13) who will have reached this total after five World Cups.
At this rate, it’s a safe bet (and we’re doing it today) that the Parisian will sit at the top of this ranking from the next World Cup in 2026. And since we were talking about Pellé, the Brazilian football legend made a point of sending a message to “dear his friend” after the meeting. “What a gift it was to attend this show,” he wrote on his Instagram account, from the room where he continues to be treated after his health concerns. Fifth player in history only to score in two different World Cup finals (with the Brazilians Vava and Pellé, the German Paul Bretner and Zinédine Zidane), the Frenchman is however the only one to have planted four so far. competition level. We could go on piling up numbers and records for a long time yet, but we’re going to stop there because, ultimately as his friend Macron would say, that’s not what will console him when it’s time to pack his bags and return to Paris.
Which Mbappé on his return to PSG?
He had announced it during his only appearance in front of the media – an obligatory passage when he had chosen to wall himself in silence to focus 100% on the field – after his double against Poland and his title of man of the match in the round of 16: “The World Cup is the competition of my dreams, I built my season on it, I prepared myself physically, mentally. But we are still far from the objective that we have set ourselves, that I have set myself, which is to win. “It will not be for this time. It remains to be seen how the player will digest this failure and in what psychological state he will be in his return to normal life with Paris Saint-Germain.
Because in this funny second part of the season which is about to start, the Parisian striker will be awaited by his coach, his teammates and the supporters. Can we expect a slowdown that would be detrimental to Paris Saint-Germain in view of the knockout stages of the Champions League against Bayern Munich, in less than two months already? Again, his ability to react will tell us more about the mental strength of the boy. Even if it is difficult to imagine a Mbappé who would send everything upside down on his return to the club in January. This is also what makes the salt of great players, never feeling sorry for themselves for too long and getting back in the ring as quickly as possible. In the long career that awaits him, it is perhaps from this slap, as painful as it is, that the future achievements of the champion will be born. I never lose, either I win or I learn, you know the song.