Kylian Mbappe has finally broken his silence on France’s heartbreaking World Cup final defeat, insisting Les Bleus “will return” to the top.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar cemented his status as the heir apparent to the triumphant Lionel Messi in one of the great showpiece fixtures ever in Qatar on Sunday, almost single-handedly dragging his nation back from the brink in a thrilling clash.
After a quiet opening 80 minutes by his usual lofty standards, Mbappe burst into life to become only the second player to net a hat-trick in a World Cup final and the first since England hero Sir Geoff Hurst in 1966, rescuing woeful France from 2-0 down to force extra time and then ensuring the match went to penalties with his second pressurised spot-kick.
He also stood up strong in the dramatic shootout, but ultimately France missed out on emulating Pele’s great Brazil side of 1958 and 1962 by failing to retain the trophy clinched in Russia four years ago after botched efforts from 12 yards from both Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni.
Nous reviendrons. 🇫🇷🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/Ni2WhO6Tgd
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) December 19, 2022
Mbappe was utterly inconsolable after the final whistle at Lusail Stadium, comforted by team-mates, opponents and even French president Emmanuel Macron as he tried to comprehend how he had still come up empty-handed despite those Herculean efforts, before going up to graciously collect his Golden Boot award for top scorer in 2022.
The 23-year-old, who is already just four goals behind all-time leading World Cup finals scorer Miroslav Klose with 12 in 14 games, understandably did not conduct any post-match media duties after such an agonising loss on sport’s biggest stage.
That silence continued into Monday morning, but Mbappe has now commented publicly on the gut-wrenching defeat with an ominous short tweet that should strike fear into every international defender the world over.
“Nous reviendrons [we will return],” he said simply.
