World Cup 2022 | France – Poland | Blues | Kylian Mbappé has changed a lot and that changes everything

Kylian Mbappé had two knockout stages with the France team. They are the perfect reflection of what he experienced with the Blues, his highest point and his lowest point. 2018, Argentina, his birth certificate in the eyes of the world and what remains his reference match. 2021, Switzerland, symbol of its failed Euro with this damn shot on goal stopped by Yann Sommer. If this third round of 16 played with the France team must embody what it represents for the Blues today, then Poland can already book a Doha – Warsaw for Monday morning.

Since the start of the competition, Kylian Mbappé has given full meaning to the mission he has set himself: to win a second World Cup at the age of 23 by taking charge of the sole leader of the France team. So far, the plan is going off without a hitch with three goals and one assist in two games and a stint. In the absence of Karim Benzema, it is raining but above all good weather on the France team and he could easily claim the honorary title of best player of the first round. But all this will not weigh very heavily if the adventure does not go to the end.

Basically, for the Blues as for him, this is where it all starts, against Poland. Four years after the coronation of Moscow, seventeen months after his failed decisive shot against the Swiss, everything has changed for Mbappé. “Kylian in 2018 was not the same player and personality as nowunveiled Antoine Griezmann at a press conference on Friday. We see him a lot more in the group, in training. He speaks, he puts the joy of living. It is important to us. He is beyond reproach.”

In not so distant times, he might have expressed his displeasure at starting the game against Tunisia on the bench. Since the start of the competition, on and off the pitch, it’s been flawless. Failing from set pieces against Australia, he left them all to Antoine Griezmann as if admitting his mistakes. This was never the case at the Euro where he persisted in taking charge of the stopped phases despite his setbacks in the exercise.

Its fullness at the right time

More mature than in 2018, more open than in 2021, it seems to have found its fullness at the right time. It is now only in front of the microphones that he no longer wants to say a word. While all the stars of this World Cup have spoken since the start of the competition, he has decided to keep quiet. No press conference since the start of the rally, neither those organized by the press service of the Blues, nor those imposed by FIFA for the best player of the match which he snubbed twice.

So, it is still the others who speak best of his metamorphosis. “He has evolved enormously, he started very strong very early, he continues on his momentum and has his head on his shouldersrejoiced Raphaël Varane last week. He knows where he wants to go, that’s also what is expected of him, to be decisive. He gained confidence at the start of the competition, we hope he will continue to do so.“This round of 16 against Poland is yet another turning point in his career with the France team. Not the first or the last, but never has the destiny of the Blues seemed so hanging on him.