Two years later, the memory of the World Cup final lost to Argentina in Qatar is still as strong for supporters of the France team. And if the penalty shootout was once again fatal to Didier Deschamps’ troops, the Blues’ crazy comeback in the last minutes of regulation time brought the French public a moment of rare power.
However, as strong as it was on an emotional level, David Douillet refuses to consider this lost final as a good memory. The defeat leaves the former judoka with too many regrets and Kylian Mbappé, although author of an incredible hat-trick in the final, is in his eyes primarily responsible. The double Olympic champion believes that, like the entire French team, the Bondynois entered his match too late.
Kylian Mbappé, waking up too late
“I was left hungry. There was a standoff between two monsters: Messi and Mbappé and we know who won this standoff. And Mbappé, he started a little late, too late and we lost because of him, he confided to the microphone of RMC. That’s what drives me crazy. If he had started earlier, with all his talent, his aggressiveness and his will, all these qualities that we know about him, I think we would have won this match. »
“That’s why it’s a bad memory, it’s a really bad memory, he continued. Because I think it was between two men. There was one who started straight away and who was in the game straight away, it was Messi, and there was one who started too late unfortunately, it was Mbappé. »
