France vs Croatia

Lore & Background

France took the lead through a controversial free kick that led to an own goal by Mario Mandžukić in the 18th minute – the first own goal in a World Cup final. Ivan Perišić equalised 10 minutes later with a low shot. France were then awarded a penalty when referee Néstor Pitana ruled that Perišić had deliberately handled the ball, a decision reached after consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR). Antoine Griezmann scored the penalty to give France a 2–1 half-time lead. Paul Pogba scored in the 59th minute, and Kylian Mbappé made it 4–1, becoming the second teenager to score in a World Cup final (after Pelé in 1958). In the 69th minute, Mandžukić capitalized on a Hugo Lloris error to score a second for Croatia. The final score was 4–2. Griezmann was named man of the match, while Croatia's Luka Modrić was awarded the Golden Ball as FIFA's outstanding player of the tournament.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at the Luzhniki hummed like a held breath. Modrić stood at the centre circle, hands on his hips, watching the French players warm up in their deep blue. He could see Mbappé doing his little dance, that restless energy, and he thought: *this boy was fourteen when I was already carrying this country on my back.* The crowd was a sea of red-and-white checks and blue, two nations sharing one stadium, one night, one impossible dream. The ball was placed. The referee's whistle cut the air. And for ninety minutes, the whole world forgot everything except the shape of the game, the sound of boots on grass, and the slow, aching knowledge that one of them would leave with the trophy and the other with something no one could take — the memory of being, for one night, almost enough.

Reader's Guide

France finished first in Group C with two wins and a draw, then defeated Argentina in the round of 16, Uruguay in the quarter-final, and Belgium in the semi-final. Croatia finished first in Group D with three wins, then defeated Denmark in the round of 16 and Russia in the quarter-final – both through a penalty shoot-out – and then England in the semi-final. The final was the sixth meeting between the two teams, with France undefeated in the previous fixtures with three wins and two draws. Their first major tournament meeting was the 1998 World Cup semi-final, where Davor Šuker opened the scoring for Croatia but France came back to win 2–1 courtesy of Lilian Thuram's only two goals for France in his international career. The second such meeting was in Group B of UEFA Euro 2004, which ended in a 2–2 draw.

Did You Know?

• The final was played in front of 78,011 supporters, with more than 1.1 billion watching on television.
• The match was refereed by Néstor Pitana from Argentina.
• The official match ball for the final was the Telstar Mechta, a red-coloured variant of the Adidas Telstar 18.
• The Luzhniki Stadium originally opened in 1956 and was renovated for the World Cup at a cost of €341 million.