Lionel Messi made all the headlines in the World Cup final in Qatar. Well, almost all of them.
The multiple Ballon d'Or winner was lauded the world over for finally adding the one trophy that was missing from his vast collection, guiding Argentina to become world champions with a thrilling tournament display. Messi had long been labelled as one of the greatest of all time, but the GOAT tag looks to have firmly stuck now he has lifted the World Cup.
But while he was the man of the moment, not all of the headlines belonged to him. For his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe was also making waves at the tournament and even in the final itself. Mbappe, expected to take the title of best in the world once Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo retire, was on his own one-man crusade to lift the World Cup trophy aloft for a second successive tournament.
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The France superstar became the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a World Cup final hat-trick. And he became the first to do so and end up on the losing side!
Mbappe single-handedly brought his nation back into the contest having been outplayed and outclassed for 80 minutes, with France 2-0 down to Argentina. His quickfire double took the match into extra-time, and despite Messi adding his second of the contest, Mbappe was there again to level things up with his third and take the game to penalties.
Mbappe then scored in the shootout - the fourth time he had hit the back of the net in the clash - but could not inspire his team to victory as Argentina won the shootout.
However, footage has emerged of Mbappe attempting to inspire his teammates during the half-time break in the Qatar final. It is not manager Didier Deschamps seen giving his players an inspirational pep talk, although we're certain there would have been one from the boss, but Mbappe instead.
And Mbappe was the one listening to his own words it seems, if the second half was anything to go by.
Mbappe can be heard saying to his teammates: "It's the match of a lifetime, it's every four years. We can't do worse than what we did. We can come back!"
Come back they did, but it was not to be enough in the end. Mbappe, however, has plenty of time on his side to lift the coveted trophy again in his lifetime.
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