REVEALED: Footage shows Kylian Mbappe telling his French teammates ‘we can come back’ as they trailed Argentina 2-0 at the World Cup… before scoring a superb hat-trick in a losing effort in Qatar
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Kylian Mbappé gave a rousing pep talk to his French teammates during the World Cup final, urging them to come back from two goals down to beat Argentina.
A penalty from Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria in second meant France stared down after being outplayed by Argentina and overworked in an excellent first half.
France’s hopes of retaining the World Cup title seemed truly over after just 45 minutes, leaving Mbappé with no choice but to take it upon himself and urge his teammates to step up their game rather than without a fight to go down.
Kylian Mbappé (centre) gave a rousing team talk at half-time of the World Cup final
The French superstar urged his teammates to step up their game and reminded them of the occasion
“It’s a World Cup final, it’s the game of your life. We can’t get any worse anyway,” Mbappé said as he addressed the dressing room.
“Let’s go back to the field or let them play or we put a little intensity and we go into the duels and we do something else guys. It’s the World Cup final.
“It’s over, they’ve scored two goals, we’re two goals behind. We can come back! Guys, something like this only happens once every four years.’
France trailed by two goals at half-time thanks to goals from Messi and Di Maria
France offered very little in a dismal first half and something had to change
The moment was captured by Televoet cameras, with Mbappé’s maturity and leadership skills clearly evident, before France boss Didier Deschamps further reminded his side of what is at stake as he banged his fist on a table.
“Guys, I’ll tell you without getting angry,” says Deschamps. ‘Do you know the difference? It’s that they play a great World Cup final and we don’t!’
Following his own advice after the break, Mbappé helped France force extra time with a penalty of his own and then a ludicrous volley in the space of 60 seconds, turning the final completely upside down and clinching the golden boot.
Mbappé would take the opportunity and net a hat-trick to send the game to penalties
Mbappé’s PSG teammate Messi thought he had won it in extra time by throwing the ball over the line in the 108th minute and sending Argentina into delirium, thinking that was it.
But Mbappe again stepped up and converted a second penalty to score a historic hat-trick in the World Cup final with two minutes remaining – the first since Geoff Hurst in 1966 – and send the game to penalties.
While Mbappe managed to hide his penalty, Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni could not, allowing Argentina to win their first World Cup since 1986.