2018 World Cup Final
Result: France 4-2 Croatia
Date: 14 July 2018
Venue: Saint Petersburg Stadium
Click through the gallery to see the best images of the game!
France were crowned World Champions for the second time after goals from Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe guided them to a 4-2 win over Croatia in the final Sunday evening.
Both coaches had no suspensions or injury worries ahead of the clash and could name their strongest available line-ups.
There was not a lot to separate the two sides in the early stages of the encounter, although Croatia did look a bit more livelier than their French counterparts.
However, it was France who broke the deadlock with their first real attack as Mario Mandzukic, who netted the winner against England, deflected Antoine Griezmann's free-kick into his own net after 17 minutes.
Croatia did not seem affected by the goal as they were rewarded with an equalsier on 28 minutes as Ivan Perisic skipped past N'Golo Kante before sending a fine volley into the far corner.
France were then afforded a chance to restore their lead when they were awarded a penalty with the consultation with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the 37th minute.
Griezmann took responsibility and calmly slotted away the spot-kick to restore Les Blues' lead, while netting his fourth goal of the tournament.
That proved to be the final piece of action in the half as Didier Deschamps' men took a lead into the break.
Ante Rebic almost got the equaliser for the Croats two minutes after the break with a peach of a strike but France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris tipped the strike over the crossbar.
The contest was opening up towards the hour as Didier Deschamps' charges were looking to exploit the space left behind by the Croats who were desperate for the equaliser.
Paul Pogba eventually gave Les Bleus a 3-1 lead on the hour-mark with a beautiful left-footed strike from just outside the box after his initial through ball had split the Croatia defence wide open.
Kylian Mbappe rubbed salt into wounds in the 65th minute, netting with a sweet right-footed strike from just outside the box to give France a commanding 4-1 lead.
Mandzukic gave Croatia some hope 20 minutes before time profiting from a horrible error by France goalkeeper Lloris whose attempted clearance gifted the striker a simple tap-in.
The Croats kept on pushing to get back into the game but France did not give much away at the back and a two-goal cushion gave them the edge in the end as they closed a memorable victory for their second World Cup title.
