France boast seductive future with Kylian Mbappé their leading man | Barney Ronay

France stake claim to be planet’s most powerful football nation as World Cup is won by second-youngest squad in Russia

And fade to blue. On a stormy, slightly wild afternoon in Moscow France became world champions for the second time, providing a bookend to one victorious era and offering a seductive hint of another to come.

It seemed fitting that victory here was never really in doubt. This despite the attentions of a manically committed Croatia who seemed to be charging after something that just kept moving away, engine purring, geared to a higher rate of frequency.

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