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Kylian Mbappe Played The World Cup Semi-Final With An Injury

Kylian Mbappe Played The World Cup Semi-Final With An Injury

The French star picked up the injury in slightly unusual circumstances before the 1-0 win over Belgium that took them to the final.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

It's not like we didn't already know who Kylian Mbappe was before the World Cup but the tournament certainly helped launch him on to an even bigger stage and the France forward even proved he can play through the pain.

At still only 19 years of age Kylian Mbappe has already had three matches of real importance to his career. There was the moment he broke Thierry Henry's record the become Monaco's youngest scorer, a year later there was the match against Manchester City that really made us take notice and a year later there was the World Cup final.

Considering he's still only a teenager trying to work out just how good he could be in the future is pretty scary, he's already won a World Cup too so he won't be burdened with that particular criticism.

In Russia he proved there isn't really much he can't do with his direct pace causing mayhem for opposition defences and even his finishing was pretty deadly, becoming the first teenager to score in a final since Pele.

Clearly there's also nothing wrong with his mental fortitude. According to French newspaper L'Equipe the PSG forward played the semi-final against Belgium after picking up a back injury in unusual circumstances.

He injured three vertebrae in his back after bending down to pick up his stuff for a shower:

The semi-final was a bit of a battle for France as they played mainly on the back foot against Belgium but their tactics were a lot more effective than Brazil's more open play against Roberto Martinez's side in the quarter final.

Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti were the heroes for Didier Deschamps' side in that game, with the Barcelona man getting the only goal of the game.

Umtiti nods his country into the World Cup final. Image: PA Images
Umtiti nods his country into the World Cup final. Image: PA Images

Mbappe's injury obviously cleared up enough in time for him to have a huge impact against Croatia in the final.

He helped set up Paul Pogba's goal to make it 3-1 then slotting in his own goal to make it 4-1, before Hugo Lloris' aberration helped Mario Mandzukic shorten the gap.

Just how good can Mbappe become?

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Topics: Football News, Belgium, PSG, World Cup news, Kylian Mbappe, World Cup, France