Kylian Mbappe scored twice as France defeated Poland 3-1 to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar in 2022.
With two incredible goals late in the second half of the last 16 contest, the teenager increased his streak to 16 goals in his last 14 outings for Les Bleus.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud gave Didier Deschamps’ team a 1-0 lead on 44 minutes before that when he found him with a through pass. Giroud now has more goals than Thierry Henry in France’s history, but Mbappe was the star of the evening.
Hugo Lloris’s off-line behaviour allowed Robert Lewandowski to retake a penalty shot that he had earlier missed deep into injury time.
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The Polish captain made it 3-1 with a second-chance goal, but it was too little, too late, and the play ended the game.
The French will play either Senegal or England in the quarterfinals on Saturday as a result of their victory.
At the Al-Thumama Stadium, the Russia 2018 champions were fortunate to avoid falling behind to their opponents after Lewandowski gave them a scare on minute 20 with a long-range shot from about 30 yards out that snuck under Lloris’ post.
After 38 minutes, there was a tremendous scrum in the goalmouth as France either blocked or cleared the ball off the line.
Six minutes later, the French scored a shocking goal. Mbappe, the game’s Player of the Match, saw Giroud had enough room to run onto the ball, and he then calmly finished with his left foot to beat Wojciech Szczesny for his 52nd goal while wearing the national team colours.
Giroud’s overhead kick, which might have been the winning goal of the competition had it counted, was disallowed as the hour mark approached.
Giroud made a wise decision to leave his markers behind with a quarter of an hour remaining, leaving Mbappe with plenty of room so that Dembele could lay off an assist for
Marcus Thuram sent the ball to Mbappe on the edge of the 18-yard box as the first minute of stoppage time began. Mbappe then cut inside and fired a rocket of a shot into the top corner.
With five goals, Mbappe pulled two goals ahead of his closest competitors for the Golden Boot, compounding the damage already done prior to Lewandowski’s consolation.
