COMMENT: Messi this. Leo that. We get it, okay. We get it. For emotion. For the occasion. Sunday at the Lusail stadium was Lionel Messi's night. But when the dust settles and this game is pulled apart, those who matter will know one man stood above all others in this World Cup final - and it wasn't Argentina's captain...
It was the last meaningful action of well over 120 minutes of football. But it could easily have been the first. Kylian Mbappe, on a hat-trick for France, with the score locked at 3-3, dipped his shoulder, shimmied and almost created an opening for himself before the ball ran away from him. And he did so with all the energy of a player in the opening minutes, not one who had taken part in over two hours of end-to-end football.
As we say, it was Messi's moment. You can't argue with that. But watching on soberly, Mbappe on this night stood alone. His body language. His mannerisms. His energy. He was working on a different plane. There wasn't a bead of sweat on him. Not for the entire game. He played at full throttle, but also was always in control. It was really quite something to witness. Not only did he dominate this game after halftime, but he appeared to know he would dominate. With his nods. His glances. There was this knowing swagger about him. This was his stage. His home. And Kylian Mbappe played as if he knew it.
Indeed, we now know he set out his stall at halftime. Footage just released from the France dressing room showed Mbappe addressing his teammates, urging a lift in "intensity", to throw themselves into "tackles". Only after the striker had finished did coach Didier Deschamps weigh in with his own words. That Mbappe would carry his country after making those halftime demands to within seconds of a four goal recovery and victory says everything about the player.
Football, like life, throws up these moments. You need to look for them, but they're there. And Sunday was no different. Messi, in this winter of his career, would leave the World Cup stage finally as a winner. But as ref Szymon Marciniak blew for penalties, it was Mbappe who had last been in possession. It was the Frenchman who finished with the ball.
This will be the era of Kylian Mbappe. There's little doubt about that. It'll be the Frenchman. Then daylight. Then perhaps half-a-dozen pretenders. Erling Haaland. Pedri. Vini Jr. Great talents in their own right. But not at Mbappe's level. We talk about Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as being once-in-lifetime footballers. Well, here's another one.
That's not to say we're entering a period where talent is scarce. On the contrary. The emergence of this Mbappe generation can take the game to new heights. Vicente Guillot, the former Valencia winger, told Tribalfootball.com as much just this week.
"In football, like in life, you have to be able to renew things and people and players," Guillot said when discussing the likes of Ansu Fati, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Gavi. "From what I can see, regarding the category of players we are talking about, they are footballers who could play for any international team in the world. They have done very well.
"These young players have their place in the world of football because 'we're all getting older' and fresh blood is needed. Youth is needed and this new 'juventud' is very good. It's a very positive sign that football is in a healthy state."
And with such entertainers, football is in a "healthy state". Which makes the talent of Mbappe, as he sits above all these exciting young peers, so much more significant.
Of course looking forward at a player's career is always dependent on the game's traditional factors. Injury. Motivation. Money. They can all play a part in hampering a career. And given the rewards the game has already granted Mbappe, he'll have every opportunity to play out his days in third gear.
Resisting Real Madrid last summer saw Mbappe handed the richest contract in the game's history. Messi and Ronaldo may be worth more in terms of commercial deals. But for pure football. No player has ever boasted a contract that now sits inside Mbappe's personal safe. A three-year deal worth almost €230m. A signing bonus of €180m. Plus a potential €240m loyalty bonus. €650m for three years work... yet as we saw on the pitch and inside the dressing room on Sunday, none of that has blunted Mbappe's motivation.
Which was only reinforced this week. Defeat in a World Cup final on Sunday night. A 24th birthday party on Tuesday. Then Wednesday there he was, inside the carpark at the Camp des Loges, PSG's training centre. Mbappe putting in a call to coach Christophe Galtier the previous evening letting him know he was ready to return. When you consider many of the Premier League's World Cup players are still to attend to training, Mbappe's drive, again, simply sets him apart.
Which you fancy will be the common theme throughout the 2020s. The drive and motivation of Ronaldo. The pure natural talent of Messi. This is Mbappe. This is how he will make this decade his.
For emotion. For drama. Sunday was Messi's night. A night he thoroughly deserved. But those paying attention, in the very same game, also saw the baton passed. At the Lusail we saw the future of football... and his name is Kylian Mbappe.
