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Three goals (plus one on penalties) to reopen a final that was closed on its own. Missing the encore of the 2018 triumph, yet demonstrating in defeat the greatness to take football from Messi’s hands
Consecration and disappointment. The shoulders on which the undisputed future of world football carries were not big enough to win the World Cup alone, and what more was Kylian Mbappé, Qatar 2022 top scorer with eight goals in seven games, to do? What more was he supposed to do than score three goals in the final plus one on penalties? France was him. Almighty talent, and powerful picture of what is loneliness in football’s immortal novel. A night that magnifies the figure, and together it hurts like nothing else. Practically alone, Mbappé reopened the games on the night in Lusail: if she will go down in history as one of the most exciting in the history of football it is thanks to him.