The prince playing like a king

The whole world held its collective breath, expecting the patented Kylian Mbappe curler as the French attacker shaped his body to shoot in the 74th minute against Poland. He leathered it. The finish was a brutal beauty.

A quarter of an hour later, Mbappe stood again - at a somewhat similar angle - and the world waited for the curler. This time, it came. Those watching - at home, in bars, in the stadium - knew it was coming. Even the goalkeeper, in-form Wojciech Szczesny, knew it was coming. But there was little he could do about it.

It was Mbappe’s show. This is his stage (World Cup). He is the artist.

“France needed a great Kylian Mbappe tonight and they got one,” said France coach Deschamps after the match. “He knows he can change a match in just a moment. He is always playing with such joy.”

At 23, Mbappe already has nine goals in 11 appearances across two World Cups and he has a maximum of three more matches to come in his second appearance on the grandest sports event. He is France’s second-top scorer ever at the World Cup behind Just Fontaine, who struck 13 times at the 1958 tournament in Sweden. On Sunday, Olivier Giroud got his much-deserved moment in the sun becoming France’s top-scorer with 52 goals. But the prevalent feeling is that he is warming the throne for Mbappe, who outshone his senior compatriot by scoring twice on Sunday, who has 33 goals and fast catching up.

Mbappe has long said he was born to shine on the big stage. It is not said in arrogance but confidence. Okay, maybe a bit of arrogance as well, for he is the man - alongside Erling Haaland - poised to take over from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the shiniest toys in world football.

A once-in-a-generation talent who plays with power, icy temperament and confidence. A player who single-handedly bent Paris st Germain to his will, who earns 650k-Euros-a-week, who had the head of State of his country asking him to stay when Real Madrid was preparing to roll out the red carpet in anticipation of their latest ‘Galactico’.

Four years ago, he showed his ability with rip-roaring performances as the French won the World Cup. He was key but that was not Mbappe’s team. He was a teenager, the prince waiting to be crowned. That success had Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante’s significant fingerprints.

This one, with Pogba and Kante injured and Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema cruelly missing out on the eve of the tournament, is Mbappe’s. The Frenchman felt, as the people in the know confirm, that he had to be the main man. A role he embraced.

“This World Cup is an obsession for me, it’s the competition of my dreams,” he said on Sunday.

“That is what I am dreaming of. I didn’t come here to win the Golden Ball. That is not why I am here. I am here to win and help the French national team.”

If France are to win their second straight crown, there is little doubt it will be on the back of Mbappe.