Mbappe showed an incredible turn of pace to earn France their opener

BeSoccer 6 years ago 1.4k |

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Mbappe left a host of players in his wake in winning the penalty. Twitter/DIRECTVSports

France took an early lead against Argentina in their World Cup last 16 clash on Saturday as Antoine Griezmann found the net from the spot, but he owed a lot to the sensational work from Kylain Mbappe in winning the spot-kick.

With just 11 minutes player, an errant pass deep in the France half was seized upon by Mbappe and the reuslt was spectacular.

Showing a turn of pace befitting of an Olympic sprinter, the forward immediately raced away from two challenges in midfield before striding deep into the Argentina half.

June 30, 2018

With just Marcos Rojo between him and the goal, Mbappe opted to push the ball past his man as burn him on the outside, only for the defender to foil his plot first with an attempted block and then a push in the back, bringing his 70-odd yard run to a premature end.

The result was so clear that VAR was not even needed as the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Griezmann did the honours from the 12 yards, sending Franco Armani the wrong way to open the scoring and heap yet more pressure on Argentina.