Footage has emerged showing Kylian Mbappe engaging his teammates in a passionate half-time team talk in the dressing room during the 2022 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina.
France went down 2-0 in the first half of the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina. Goals from Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria sank Les Bleus.
Messi converted a spot kick to give Argentina the lead, while Angel Di Maria slotted home a through ball from Marc Allister to double the lead.
Didier Deschamps’s boys were in disarray throughout the first half. Antoine Griezmann and Aurelien Tchouameni were overwhelmed by Lionel Scaloni’s free-rolling midfielders featuring Marc Allister, Enzo Fernandes, and De Paul.
France rarely held possession in the first half as Argentina dominated proceedings and earned a deserved 2-0 lead before heading into the first-half break.
France came back into the game after an abysmal first-half performance.
The squad was ravaged by illness going into the game. Upamecano and Antoine Griezmann were among the players affected and had missed the semifinal clash against Morocco.
Despite the outbreak, France awoke with a fiery response to the Argentines late in the second half. Kylian Mbappe shouldered the responsibility of the come-back with a stellar performance.
Before his on-field late magic that immediately flipped the game to a 2-2 draw in the 80th minute, Mbappe took up a leadership role in the dressing room.
At half-time, a camera picked up Mbappe giving an off-the-cuff speech to try to inspire one last huge effort from his team-mates.
Speaking in French in footage that emerged after the match, Kylian Mbappe said: “We can’t do worse than what we did.
“We go back on the field, either we let them play or we go in.. put some intensity in the duel and do something else guys.
“It’s a World Cup final. It’s done. They scored two goals, we are down two goals.
“We can come back. Guys it’s every four years!”
Didier Deschamps made a double substitution within the first 41 minutes, hooking Ousmane Dembele and Olivier Giroud for Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani.
Despite the substitutions, Les Blues failed to respond immediately. It took a while before Kylian Mbappe overturned the scoreline.
After Coman and Camavinga were brought into the game in the 71st minute, Argentina were hit in less than 10 minutes.
They conceded a penalty after Otamendi fouled Muani in the 79th minute. Mbappe converted the spot kick. A few seconds later, Coman then dispossessed Lionel Messi in the half way line and located Kolo Muani immediately in the left flank.
A lovely one-two by Muani and Mbappe was all Mbappe needed to shock the Argentines with the second goal to bring the scoreline to a 2-2 draw.
The Frenchman went on to complete his hat-trick late in extra time and converted his spot kick in the penalty shoot-out, only to still come out on the losing side.
Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot in the tournament after emerging the highest goal-scorer with 9 goals, followed by Lionel Messi who had 8 goals.
Mbappe has returned to PSG training 72 hours after the World Cup final and may likely feature for the Ligue 1 champions in their next Ligue 1 game against Strasbourg.
