KAZAN: There were all kinds of stories at Kazan Arena on Saturday. Redemption, fall from grace, stories of misplaced hope and of despair. At the end of them all, 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe was standing tall on top of the dust and rubble that was Argentina’s World Cup campaign. Later in the night, Ronaldo-led Portugal lost to Uruguay 1-2.
Edinson Cavani scored a brace, while Pepe scored the only goal for Portugal.
A couple of games ago, against Peru, Mbappe had become the youngest Frenchman to score in a World Cup. Against Argentina, he shrugged off the role of teenage understudy and donned the mantle of the leading man.
The game finished 4-3 in France’s favour and they owed three goals to Mbappe. The first was a breathtaking run past the Argentinean backline which culminated in Marcos Rojo desperately bundling him over.
Antoine Griezmann converted the penalty. With the game poised at 2-2, Mbappe took the ball inside the box and powered a low shot in. Four minutes later, he took a pass in his stride and fired it into the right bottom corner.
Between those, there was hope for Argentina. Just before half-time, Angel di Maria curled a beauty past Hugo Lloris. And just after the restart, Paul Pogba’s clearance off a free-kick fell to Messi. His shot took a deflection before going in.