World Cup 2018: Best XI from the group stage

Midfielders - N'Golo Kante (France), Luka Modric (Croatia), Philippe Coutinho (Brazil), Eden Hazard (Belgium)

Kante has been France's best player

Coming into the tournament, France were one of the favourites to win the World Cup but they haven’t shown the attacking prowess we know they are capable of. They topped their group thanks to their excellent defence and a lot of credit to that goes to N’Golo Kante.

Kante and Varane were the only two French players to play every minute of the group stage. The Chelsea man’s per game averages come to 2.7 tackles, 3.3 interceptions and 2.7 clearances.

Modric is an early contender for the Golden Ball

Luka Modric is one of the early contenders for the Golden Ball as the Croatia captain has led his side from the front into the knockout stage. Modric and Perisic were the only two Croatian players who started every group stage game.

He scored from the spot against Nigeria and from outside the box against Argentina. In addition, he made 5 tackles, 3 interceptions, 2 clearances and 5 key passes in 245 minutes of action. A complete midfielder indeed.

Coutinho scored or assisted the first goal in all of Brazil's games

The pre-tournament discussion was about how Neymar can lead Brazil to glory but on the pitch, Philippe Coutinho took the spotlight away from the PSG superstar.

Coutinho scored a typical Coutinho goal against Switzerland in their 1-1 draw and then against Costa Rica, he scored the first goal of the game in the 90th minute to break the deadlock. He didn’t score against Serbia, but it was his brilliant pass from which Paulinho scored Brazil’s all-important first goal.

Hazard has scored two goals and assisted one in just 158 minutes

Eden Hazard only played 158 minutes out of a maximum possible 270 minutes because Belgium progressed to the next round. However, he was scintillating whenever he was on the pitch.

Against Panama, he picked up an assist and against Tunisia, he scored twice and assisted one in a man of the match performance despite playing only 68 minutes.

Incredibly, in those 168 minutes, he managed 8 shots, 15 dribbles of which 8 were successful, 6 key passes and was fouled 9 times.