France won their second World Cup with a 4-2 win over Croatia. In addition Didier Deschamps has become the third person to win the trophy as a player and a manager. He won the title back in 1998 as a player who triumph against the formidable Brazil in Parc Des Princess.
Both teams were unchanged from their semifinal wins, with Croatia having needed extra time (and penalties twice) through the knockout stages to reach the final.
In the 18th minutes Mario Mandzukic deflected Antonio Griezmann free kick into his own net becoming the first ever own goal scored in a World Cup final.
Croatia didn’t leave the reply late by equalizing in the 28th minutes of the encounter. After a well worked set piece which saw Ivan Perisic putting the ball in the back of the net with an emphatic shot just right in the box.
Afterwards, Perisic was adjudged to have handled the ball courtesy of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after a corner kick by France. Griezmann stepped up to convert the resulting penalty kick in the 38th minutes. Griezmann sends Subasic to the wrong side.
Half-time scoreline was 2-1 in favor of France which was okay in comparison with both teams efforts.
Immediately after the restart, it was an end to end football, France playing on the counter attack and Croatia making the most efficient use of the spaces created by France at the defence. However, Paul Pogba rose to the occasion after Griezmann passed the ball to his path, which he carefully placed the ball with a curling effort pass the Croatia goalkeeper in the 59th minutes.
It was not the end of Les Blues running riot in the second half, Kylian Mbappe adding the fourth goal for France in the 65th minutes by showing great composure to make the scoreline 4-1. The goal makes the young teenager Mbappe the second youngest teenager to have scored a goal at the World Cup finals after the great Brazillian Pele. The scoreline now looking out of the reach of a Croatia comeback.
In the 69th minutes, Croatia showed glimpses of a historic comeback when Mandzukic scored his teams second goal after a lackluster display from France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
With the score now tied at 4-2, France ensure that there was no further goals to be conceded which makes the match out of the reach of Croatia.
At the end of the final whistle, the scores was 4-2 in favor of France, making them to win the trophy for the second time in their history.
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