The time for the grand finale is approaching!
Sunday, at 4 p.m., France and Argentina have an appointment to find out who will win the World Cup for the third time in its history.
This match is also the long-distance duel between Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, the two stars of their team who for the moment are tied for the top of the scoring charts (5 goals).
To wait before D-Day, we count the points between the two men on this World Cup.
Big games for big players?
Apparently that's how it works in football.
That of Sunday will therefore be for a legend.
The big story would have the World Cup final between France and Argentina decided on a work of art by Kylian Mbappé or Lionel Messi.
It will be necessary to know which of the two will finish as top scorer – and probably best player, too bad for Grizou – in the competition, and will return to Paris with the status of grand master of the world.
With what that implies for the individual trophies to come.
Of course, the two number 10s are not at the same stage of their careers.
Messi is aiming for the ultimate crowning glory, one that would definitely place him alongside Diego Maradona in the national pantheon.
Mbappé intends to lay a new brick in the empire he has promised himself to build since childhood.
In short, the whole world is waiting for this match within the match, as evidenced by the many newspaper headlines featuring the two artists on Thursday.
And we count the points to wait.
Face-to-face: Advantage Mbappé
Let's start with the most obvious.
So far, when the two men have faced off, it has always worked out in Kyk's favor.
The round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup, of course, with the fantastic ride of 50 meters from Bondy's dragster which brings the peno of the opener then his double to knock out the Argentines.
Same punishment in the round of 16 of the 2020-2021 Champions League, with a resounding hat-trick from Mbappé at Camp Nou in the first leg (1-4) which had extinguished all suspense for the return (1-1).
The stats: Messi advantage
There are the raw statistics and the rest.
With five goals and three assists, the Argentinian is a bit above the French (5 + 2), but with three penalties.
Beyond that, Messi is a more central and regular danger during a match.
On average, he fires more shots, wins more duels and causes more fouls than Mbappé, who for his part manages more dribbles.
Funny little bonus (except for the teammates), the Blues striker even manages to be below the man who played while walking in terms of defensive investment, with ONLY ONE ball recovered since the start of the World Cup, against nine for Messi (according to Opta).
A feat in a sense, especially since its positioning on one side is supposed to go hand in hand with a union minimum.
We saw against Morocco that this could cause some problems.
The dynamic: Messi advantage
Leo arrives launched.
Scorer in every game since the start of the knockout phase (Australia, Netherlands and Croatia), he even gives the impression of being better and better despite his 35 years.
His triple acceleration against Gvardiol to offer Alvarez the third goal in the half stunned the whole world.
Mbappé has not found the fault since his extraterrestrial double against Poland, and even if he provokes the two goals against Morocco - with a rather magical inspiration on the second - there is something in the air like the impression that the French loses interest in the game for long periods, when Messi remains at the heart of the Argentine furia.
He lets Alvarez, Fernandez and the other midfielders run around like hell, but he's still there, the central point of all the transmission circuits.
“I'm having a lot of fun and I'm lucky to be able to help the group to move things forward.
I feel strong in every game in this smart group,” said the Argentinian after the recital against Croatia (3-0).
The aura in his own team: Messi advantage
Analysis distorted in advance, obviously, because of the age difference between the two men.
Messi, from the top of his six Golden Balls, four Champions Leagues and 43 Spanish championships (roughly) is untouchable.
It has been 15 years and more than a thousand matches that he has hovered above the others and in selection, his partners are only there to serve him.
"We always see him as the saviour, the 'chosen one'.
He is a born leader, he always has been and always will be because of what he represents,” observed Javier Pastore in
L’Equipe .
, Thursday.
Jorge Burruchaga, Maradona's right-hand man in 1986, is well placed for the comparison: "In the same way that Carlos Bilardo told us in his first match as coach that the team was Maradona's, the current selection is that of Messi. .
He plays differently, given his age and the players around, but he is even more at the service of the team and still capable of flashes of genius.
»
Mbappé does not yet have this leadership – even if Deschamps makes sure to put him in the best possible conditions – because he is currently playing with older players who have won at least as much as him.
When Griezmann puts a small one in the mixed zone after Morocco to raise his lack of defensive support, nobody flinches, and that's normal.
All the players of the France team know that the Parisian is their X factor, their
furioclass
and do not hesitate to say it, but he is not the leader.
We'll talk about that in a few years.
The aura towards the outside: 50-50
Whatever people say, we don't referee Messi, Ronaldo and the others quite the same.
The Argentinian is the player who has had the most whistles in his favor in this World Cup.
Because he suffers a lot of mistakes, obviously, but you only have to see the two or three actions where Mbappé gets cut against Morocco without the referee lifting a finger to realize that the tricolor striker is not yet treated like a prince.
On the other hand, it is different on the side of the adversaries.
What Mbappé can invent with the ball is scary, it is not the English and their plan built for two years who will say the opposite.
The Frenchman loves defenders, we saw him again against Morocco on both goals, with a swarm of opponents around him in the area, which benefited Hernandez and Kolo Muani who were hanging around there.
So yes we reassure you, the opposing coaches are also preparing when they face Lionel Messi, but the Bondynois is certainly the most feared threat in world football today.
Pressure: Advantage Mbappé
Kyk's has already won, and has for him the hope of seeing others (his youth has to serve him at some point).
Messi, he confirmed it: this final will be his last appearance in the World Cup.
With all the emotional charge that this implies, when he must already be struggling with that of the whole country, which the 36 years of waiting since 1986 have made literally hysterical.
Sure, he showed after the initial loss to Saudi Arabia that he knew how to shine on the edge of the void, but it's still a final, and the last one isn't a good memory.
For once, the experience is on the side of Mbappé.
So ?
So answer Sunday, from 4 p.m.
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World Cup 2022
Soccer
Kylian Mbappe
Lionel Messi
France football team
Argentina
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