Mbappe Catches Messi To France To WC Quarte…

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Kylian Mbappe continued his fine form at the FIFA World Cup  for France, who advance to the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over Paraguay.

Fixture: France v Paraguay
Score: 1-0
Goalscorers: Mbappe (70′)

Didier Deschamps’ men came into the contest in fine form as they secured an impressive 3-0 win over Sweden in the round of 32, with Kylian Mbappe looking to boost his Golden Boots to catch Lionel Messi, who scored his seventh goal against Cape Verde on Friday night.

The French were quite dominant from the onset looking to continue from where they left off against Sweden, but they came up against a Paraguayan outfit who showed no real desire to try and trouble French defence as they happily sat back and soaked up the pressure.

Les Blues continued to pile on the pressure in search of the opening goal but with Paraguay sitting deep in their own half, the French were reduced to efforts from distance as Adrien Rabiot and Michael Olise failed to hit the target at the midway point of the stanza.

Deschamps saw no desire to make any changes as they looked to break down the Paraguay defence, but they did go close with one of their efforts from distance as Manu Kone saw his stinging effort brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Orlando Gill, as the frustration began to grow.

France, however, did make their first change on the hour mark as Bradley Barcola made way his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Desire Doue, while Paraguay were forced to take off star midfielder Julio Enciso due to injury, with Gustavo Caballero brought on as his replacement.

Doue’s introduction paid off seven minutes later when the French winger won a penalty after being fouled by Diego Gómez in the box following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Mbappe stepped up and calmly slotted home for his seventh goal in the competition, moving level Messi at the top of the Golden Boot race.

Even after falling behind, Paraguay failed to take the game to their European counter-parts in the latter stages of the second half, which made a for a really disappointing finish to the clash as the two-time World champions eased into the quarter-finals.

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