France defeat Croatia 4-2: Here're records broken
France won the FIFA World Cup 2018, after a period of 20 years, as they defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday. Les Bleus rode through a superb show in both halves to overpower the Croats in a finale that wasn't short of thrills. In the process, many records were scripted. Here we look at them.
Didier Deschamps became the 3rd man ever to win the World Cup both as a player and a manager after Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer. On the other hand, Paul Pogba became the first Manchester United player to score in the final of a World Cup. He is the second ever Premier League player to score since former Frenchman Emmanuel Petit in 1998.
This was the first final match of a World Cup since 1974 that saw three goals scored inside the first half. A total of 12 own goals were scored in this World Cup which is a new record. The previous best was six in the 1998 World Cup. Mario Mandzukic became the first player to score an own goal in a World Cup final.
Striker Olivier Giroud didn't attempt a single shot on target for France in the World Cup in Russia. He played a total of 546 minutes and was toothless all along.
Mandzukic became the second player in the history of World Cups to score an own goal and a goal for his side since Ernie Brandts of the Netherlands in 1978. He also became the fifth player to score a goal for his side in both World Cup and the UEFA Champions League finale.
France became the second team in a FIFA World Cup final to score four goals. Brazil were the first side in 1970. Dejan Lovren joined Thierry Henry to become a Premier League player to play the Champions League and World Cup in the same year.
5 – Mario Mandzukic has become just the 5th player to score in both World Cup and European Cup/Champions League finals, after Ferenc Puskas, Zoltan Czibor, Gerd Muller Zinedine Zidane. Platform.#WorldCupFinal #WorldCup #FRA #CRO pic.twitter.com/jc7TNR7YRG
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 15, 2018
