The French team, which was defending the title, was totally outclassed by Argentina in the first part of the World Cup final in Qatar at the Lusail stadium. The albiceleste advanced with two goals and the French coach, Didier Deschamps, decided to take Ousmane Dembélé and Olivier Giroud off the field before the break.
The quick Barça winger was the author of the penalty that marked the first goal for the Argentines in the 23rd minute. Dembélé was paired with Di María near the corner flag. The 'noodle' first got rid of the Frenchman with a good dribble and then fell into the area before contact from behind the 'mosquito', who rushed and missed in his attempt to recover the ball.
The Polish referee Marciniak did not hesitate to signal the penalty spot and Messi deceived Lloris with a shot to his right to open the electronic. The Argentina captain scored his sixth goal in the championship and tied at the top of the scoring charts with Kylian Mbappé, who barely intervened in the first 45 minutes.
Bondy's prodigy was swallowed up by the intensity of Argentina and by the timid approach of Deschamps, who instead of going for the game looked for the Argentine error to get closer to the goal of Dibu Martínez, unprecedented until the break. Not even with the first Argentine goal did the French react.
Giroud, the second top scorer for Bleu with four goals, made contact with the ball on a few occasions, the only time in the area from a header that ended in a foul by the striker. Given the comfort in the field of the Argentine team and the little offensive presence of the French, the French coach decided to change two of his three forwards.
Giroud and Dembélé were substituted in the 41st minute and Mbappé's new attacking partners became Marcus Thuram and Kolo Muani, the scorer in the semi-final against Morocco. The father of the Borussia Mönchengladbach player, former player Lilian Thuram, present in the stands in Lusail, was champion with France in 1998.
