France has been crowned World Champions 20 years after they won the trophy when the country hosted the tournament in 1998.
Les Blues proved superior to their Croatian counterparts in the final game played at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium on Sunday to lift the trophy for the second time, scoring more than two goals to win the ultimate accolade.
France took an early lead through a Mario Mandzukic own goal but Ivan Perisic cancelled out France’s lead in the 28th minute but Les Blues came strong before the first half with France leading Croatia 2-1 at the end.
Antoine Griezmann’s penalty is the first penalty in a regular time of a World Cup final since Zinedine Zidane in 2006!
It’s the second World Cup final with three goals in the first half since 1974 and also the first World Cup final with three goals since 1998.
Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe extended France’s lead in the second half making it 4 goals to 1. After three successive extra-time knockout games, the chances of Croatia coming back again looked impossible but they were thrown a lifeline by Lloris, who tried to dribble round Mandzukic only for the striker to block the ball and send it in to the unguarded net giving Croatia a 69th-minute hope!
It’s interesting to note that since the beginning of the World Cup, there have been only two teenagers who have actually scored goals in the final. Brazil’s Pele and France’s Kylian Mbappe. That’s all.
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At the end of proceedings, France put four goals past Croatia, whiles the Croats could only manage to score twice.
FIFA Young Player Award went to Mbappe while the Adidas Golden Ball award went to three players Luka MODRIC (best player of the 2018 World Cup) Eden HAZARD (2) Antoine GRIEZMANN (3). Harry Kane (1), Antoine GRIEZMANN (2) and Romelu LUKAKU (3) were also awarded Adidas Golden Boot.
Belgium’s Thibaut COURTOIS won the Adidas Golden glove while Spain won FIFA Fair Play Trophy.
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