FIFA WC Final: France won the title, Croatia won the hearts

Luzhniki Staidum in Moscow, Russia witnessed history as France beat Croatia 4-2 to clinch the title of FIFA World Cup winners 2018. The 20 year drought came to an end as they won their second World Cup title.

The World Cup Final shocked everyone with the Croatian disaster of an own goal. Perisic compensated for the own goal by levelling the score line in the 28^th minute. With this mistake, the Russian World Cup made history with most number of own goals in the tournament – 12.

World Cup 2018 saw some path-breaking changes in the game. Video Assisted Refree (VAR) was used for the first time in a World Cup and it turned many games on their heads. Even the final in Moscow saw VAR’s impact as France was awarded a penalty in the 38^th minute which helped Antoine Griezmann provide France with a 2-1 lead.

Mandzukic tried to balance his own goal by netting one in the 69^th minute, but it was too difficult for Croatia to come back from the score line of 4-2. Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe stepped up on the biggest stage of the tournament and took their team across the finish line. Kylian also became the first teenager since Pele in 1958 to score in a World Cup Final and bagged the FIFA Young Player Award.

The post-match ceremony declared Harry Kane as the Golden boot winner of the tournament and Luka Modric received the Golden Ball. Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove as Belgium came third in the tournament, their best finish in World Cup.

Global leaders like Donald Trump, Donald Tusk, Justin Trudeau, etc. congratulated the French team on their victory. Twitter emphasized on the role of unity amidst different origins in the French squad and flooded the internet with #FiersdetreBleus.