France 4-2 Croatia: 5 Talking Points - Les Bleus Crowned Champions, World Cup 2018

#4 Kante has a shocker before France's one-two sucker punch

Paul Pogba made it 3-1 with a shot from outside the box

N'Golo Kante's yellow card in the first half when he had cynically stopped a Croatia counter-attack with a deliberate foul had clearly had an effect on the French midfielder. The Chelsea man was nowhere close to his usual best after the booking.

The game seemed to bypass Kante every time Croatia moved forward with the likes of Perisic and Rebic drifting wide and dragging Kante out of position. After 55 minutes, Deschamps had seen enough and rightly hooked him off to bring on Steven N'Zonzi.

France wrestled back midfield control and, with Croatia pouring men forward in search of an equaliser, Mbappe started to find space for one-on-one battles with Strinic on the flank.

Paul Pogba found him with a beauty of a ball that released Mbappe and it was the Manchester United midfielder who eventually saw the ball fall to him. His first shot was blocked but a second chance allowed him to beat Subasic with a left-footed strike.

Even before Croatia could recover, six minutes later Mbappe had his moment of glory. Shaping up for a curler into the top corner, Mbappe changed his position at the very last moment to drag his shot to Subasic's right to make it 4-1.

19y 207d - Kylian Mbappé is the 2nd youngest player to score in a @FIFAWorldCup final, after Pelé (17y 249d) in 1958 for Brazil. Anointed.#WorldCupFinal #WorldCup #FRA #CRO pic.twitter.com/RAX9fOPWL0

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 15, 2018