'Mbappe made the difference'

Before the start of the game or even a few hours earlier, it were the Argentina fans who were making all the noise, on the streets, in the bus, in the train and on their way to the Kazan Arena. They sang a popular song which means – Argentina is the best team in the world, its supporters are the best in the world and they have got the best players in Messi and Maradona.

They sang it loudly when their team were 1-0 down and it worked. Argentina equalised through a spectacular left-footer from Angel di Maria. It turned even louder when they took a 2-1 lead just after the restart. However, after France made it 4-2, thanks to Kylian Mbappe's double strike in the space of four minutes, the Argentina fans tried to reignite their players with that popular song. But that was not as forceful as it was before. The otherwise festive Albiceleste fans left the ground silently, and the venue and its surroundings turned into a graveyard within an hour after the game.

It was a game in which Argentina tried everything in their power to stay alive. But they lost the plot against speed, and more precisely the speed of Mbappe, who was born in 1998, when the Les Bleus won their first-ever World Cup.

“This was a good year to be born even if he did not see much of the 1998 World Cup. I'm very happy Mbappe is a French citizen and what he did in such an important match was very good. He showed all his talent,” France coach Didier Deschamps told reporters after the game. 

Deschamps observed that his young striker was even quicker and created more space and also played at the central part of the field.

“He has a lot of abilities and qualities and he is only 19-20 years old; he made a lot of progress,” said the 1998 World Cup winner.

He said that it was a deliberate ploy which forced Argentina to defend.

“It was best for us because Argentines are much better in attack rather than defending,” said the French coach adding that they were successful most of the time to break the Messi, Banega and Mascherano trio.

Both France and Argentina came into the game with a lot of criticism for failing to show their full repertoire of potential. But yesterday's seven-goal thriller was really entertaining.

“The team has showed what it could do -- though they don't have a lot of experience in the World Cup. It was very rewarding because of what was at stake in this particular match. On the other hand, there were a lot of highly experienced players who were able to manage those situations well. Even though we conceded the third goal, not everybody is perfect,” said Deschamps, adding that he wanted to enjoy the victory rather than taking about his quarterfinal opponent.

His Argentina counterpart Jorge Sampaoli also admitted that Mbappe made the difference between the two sides.

 “We played against a team that is very very fast. We were able to turn the match around but after a very short time during a very strange play we lost our advantage. We have had a situation that we could not control like the very good pace of Mbappe who played really well,” said the under-fire Argentina coach.

He also said that there was not much of a difference between the two sides.

“I don't think there is any difference between Argentina and France in terms of developing the game. France went for counter-attacks while we went for ball possession and even though we know we have very fast opponents during counter-attacks, I think we really fought. They scored three goals in the second half but we fought and we got the opportunities and we nearly managed to equalise,” added Sampaoli.