It was a job so comprehensive, so thoroughly performed to the letter, that France’s players converted it to song. “N’Golo Kanté, he’s short, he’s nice, he shut down Leo Messi but we all know he’s a cheater,” went the lyrics after their midfielder, detailed to smother Argentina’s No 10 in Kazan four years ago, barely allowed him a sniff.
Messi was given little more than an assist for Sergio Agüero’s late consolation; he would finish the afternoon gazing at his feet and suspecting a dream had gone up in smoke, while France sailed through to the quarter-finals and far beyond.
