We all remember Kylian Mbappe’s scintillating performance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup that concluded last December, where he steered France to the finals and narrowly missing out on defending their world title against Argentina. The 25-year-old skipper has been in immaculate form since last year, and he showed exactly why he is one of the top stars in the circuit today, as he steered his team to a narrow 1-0 victory over Greece in their international friendly on Tuesday, 20.06.2023.
In a match that was quite evenly matched and Greece did well to up their game against the former world champions, despite playing with only 10 players. However, Mbappe was able to find the golden moment for his team in the 55th minute, when he netted the solitary goal for France vide a penalty to steer his team to a close fought victory, thus qualifying for the Group B of the upcoming Euro 2024.
Earlier in the match, the offensive trio of Kylian Mbappe, Randal Kolo, and Kingsley Coman tried to create some early scoring opportunities for France, but the Greece defense line was solid as a brick wall and didn’t let the French strikers slip through them. France came pretty close to scoring their first goal in the first half, when Randal Kolo Muani had a clear chance with a downward header from Mbappe’s cross but his attempt went just wide in the 25th minute.
The winning goal took Kylian Mbappe’s overall season tally to 54 goals, thus making him the all-time leading goal scorer for France over a playing season for club and country. This record was previously held by Just Fontaine who had scored 53 goals during the 1957-58 season.
Following the spot kick by Mbappe, Greece experienced their second tragic blow when Konstantinos Mavropanos was sent off in the 69th minute, thus leaving the team with only 10 players to continue with. The game eventually ended with the referees final whistle, thus giving France the victory.
Mbappe, who has been on a roll this entire season, gave his career best performance in the finals where he scored 4 goals for his team, including a goal during the final penalty shootout. Despite the nail-biting loss, Mbappe ended the tournament with 8 goals under his belt, eventually winning the Golden Ball award for most goals in the tournament. He also had previously helped spearhead his side to the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which they eventually won!
