Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra correctly predicted that Argentina would beat France in the World Cup final on penalties - even though he admitted it would "break his heart" to see.
Evra, 41, clocked up 81 international caps for Les Bleus during an international career that spanned over a decade. The former left-back, who made a name for himself in the Premier League, saw his country win the World Cup for the second time in their history in 2018, but was not confident that they could replicate that feat this time around.
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe starred in one of the most memorable World Cup finals in modern history, with the former bagging a brace and Mbappe plundering a remarkable hat-trick. With the scores level at 3-3 after extra-time, Lionel Scaloni's side went on to win a tense penalty shootout - just as Evra had predicted before the match.
Speaking before Sunday's final, the Frenchman told BetFair: "I think Argentina will win the World Cup on penalties. It will break my heart. My other prediction would be for France to beat Argentina 3-1 in normal time, I'm not sure what to pick.
"If you watch France vs Croatia, the final in 2018, Croatia could have won that game even though the game was 4-2. The score will be very difficult to predict for France versus Argentina."
Emiliano Martinez was once again the Argentinian hero in the shootout after his mind games led to Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni missing vital spot-kicks. But it seemed highly unlikely that penalties would be required after Argentina raced into a 2-0 lead against a France side who looked devoid of energy and endeavour.
Mbappe finally injected some life into the French by converting an 80th-minute penalty and turned the game completely on its head with a second strike less than 90 seconds later.
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Didier Deschamps' side, who have been plagued by a virus in the build-up to the match, ran out of steam, though, and were unable to overcome an Argentina side led by Messi. Speaking after the match, Deschamps admitted that his players were still suffering from the after-effects of the virus.
“The whole squad has been facing a tricky situation for a while now,” he said. “Maybe that had a physical or psychological impact. But I had no concerns about the players who started the match: they were 100 per cent fit.
“We only had four days since the last match, so there was some tiredness, perhaps. That’s not an excuse, we just didn’t have the same energy as in the previous match and that’s why, for the first hour or so, we weren’t in the match.”
