Topics: Kylian Mbappe, France, Football World Cup
Kylian Mbappe was cruelly denied a 10/10 from French publication L'Equipe despite scoring a hat-trick in Sunday's World Cup final.
The 23-year-old dragged France back into the contest with 10 minutes to go after Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria's goals put Argentina 2-0 up.
Mbappe scored a penalty and a lovely volley to ensure the game went to extra time. Messi put Argentina ahead with his second of the game, before Mbappe stepped in once again.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar converted another penalty to take the game to a shootout. Argentina would clinch their first World Cup since 1986 after misses from Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni.
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Mbappe left Qatar with the Golden Boot and the respect of millions worldwide but no second consecutive World Cup winner's medal.
He also wasn't given a perfect score despite his heroics. L'Equipe gave the forward a nine, the highest rating on the pitch. Still strong, but it easily could've been more.
What does it take to be top of the class in France's national newspaper? Going by the 14 players to get that mythical 10/10 rating, it's a lot.
1. Franck Sauzee (FRANCE U21s vs Greece U21s, 1988)
2. Bruno Martini (FRANCE U21s vs Greece U21s, 1988)
3. Oleg Salenko (RUSSIA 6-1 Cameroon, 1994)
4. Lars Windfeld (AARHUS 1-0 Nantes, 1997)
5. Lionel Messi (BARCELONA 4-1 Arsenal, 2010)
6. Lionel Messi (BARCELONA 7-1 Bayern Leverkusen, 2012)
7. Robert Lewandowski (BORUSSIA DORTMUND 4-1 Real Madrid, 2013)
8. Carlos Eduardo (Guingamp 2-7 NICE, 2014)
9. Neymar (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN 8-0 Dijon, 2018)
10. Dusan Tadic (Real Madrid 1-4 AJAX, 2019)
11. Lucas Moura (Ajax 2-3 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR, 2019)
12. Serge Gnabry (Tottenham Hotspur 2-7 BAYERN MUNICH, 2019)
13. Kylian Mbappe (FRANCE 8-0 Kazakhstan, 2021)
14. Albert Lafont (NANTES 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain, 2022)
15. Erling Haaland (MANCHESTER CITY 6-3 Manchester United, 2022)
Haaland was the most recent to receive a 10/10 after scoring a hat-trick and registering two assists in Manchester City's 6-3 demolition of rivals Manchester United.
Interestingly, only two players in this century have received 10/10s after not scoring a hat-trick. Dusan Tadic's masterclass against Real Madrid in 2019 and goalkeeper Albert Lafont's inspired performance against PSG are the two performances to do so.
