Even when Kylian Mbappe looked fallible, he then appeared fantastic. Mbappe has been emulating Lionel Messi over the last month and when he did so in unwanted fashion, showing that the greats are not immune to missed penalties, he provided the kind of response the legendary Argentine had against first Austria and then Egypt. He scored.
And so the Moroccan resistance was broken by a moment of magnificence. Beaten 2-0 by France in the 2022 semi-finals, they suffered the same scoreline in a rematch as Mbappe pilots France towards a third successive final. He followed his goal with a third assist of the tournament, enabling Ousmane Dembele to seal a deserved victory.
