France captain Kylian Mbappe ushered in a new era for his country by inspiring them to victory against the Netherlands on Friday.
Mbappe, 24, was confirmed as France's new skipper earlier this week following Hugo Lloris' retirement from international football. The Paris Saint-Germain star was chosen to lead his nation after delivering an inspirational team talk at the World Cup in Qatar.
Mbappe marked the occasion by scoring a brace in France's 4-0 demolition of the Dutch - handing Didier Deschamps' side the perfect start to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. The Euros is the one major international honour missing from Mbappe's cabinet.
France needed less than two minutes to break the deadlock on Friday, as Mbappe assisted new vice-captain Antoine Griezmann at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano doubled his country's lead six minutes later before Mbappe all but ended the contest.
France's new captain found himself one-on-one with Netherlands goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen after a brilliant through ball from Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. At that point, there was only ever going to be one outcome.
Mbappe capped off the evening by completing his brace two minutes from time. It was a performance which confirmed France as one of the favourites to win the upcoming Euros - just three months after they suffered heartbreak in the World Cup final.
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Les Blues lost on penalties to Lionel Messi's Argentina in Qatar, despite Mbappe's heroics. Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the showpiece event - becoming the first man to achieve that feat since Sir Geoff Hurst in England's 1966 triumph against West Germany.
At times, it seemed as if Mbappe was the only Frenchman who wanted to win that final. With the score 2-0 to Argentina at half-time, Mbappe delivered a rousing team talk to motivate the troops. Considering that, it is no surprise that he's France's new captain.
"It's the match of a lifetime, it's every four years," shouted Mbappe. "We can't do worse than what we did. We can come back!"
Deschamps explained his decision to hand Mbappe the armband ahead of Friday's game. He said, "Kylian Mbappe is the new captain... Kylian meets all the requirements to have this responsibility. On the field as in the life of the group, by being a unifying element."
Mbappe's brace against the Netherlands means he's now France's fifth highest scorer in men's international football - ahead of Ballon d'Or holder Karim Benzema. The Paris-born star has now scored 38 goals in just 67 senior appearances for his country.
Mbappe, who won the World Cup in 2018 and the Nations League in 2021, will be confident of lifting the Euros next summer. He will also be targeting Olivier Giroud's record of 53 goals for France. It only seems a matter of time before he usurps Giroud.
