France star Kylian Mbappé was doing his best to keep his feet on the ground as praise flew thick and fast following his star turn in Les Bleus’ thrilling 4-3 last-16 win over Argentina on Saturday.
Saturday, 30 June, 2018
FIFA World Cup, round of 16
Kazan Arena, Kazan
France 4 – 3 Argentina 
Kylian Mbappé (France forward): “We’re happy. I felt great out there, just as my teammates did. We said we wanted to achieve some great things after a complicated group stage. Against a great team, against great players, we turned in an accomplished performance. It’s great; the World Cup is a great competition and all the best players are here. It’s flattering for me, but it won’t stop me from working hard and, above all, going as far as possible in this World Cup.”
Didier Deschamps (France coach): “I do this job in order to experience moments of joy and happiness. We were playing against an excellent and very experienced Argentina team. Our team is younger, but the lads really turned up and rose to the occasion, with character. It wasn’t simple, but we didn’t give an inch. We did everything we could to make sure we progressed to the next round. I’m the one responsible, especially when things do not go well, but today I’m very happy for the players. We have been thinking about matches like this one for the last few months. We couldn’t afford to get it wrong today and we most certainly did not. [On Man of the Match Kylian Mbappé] He’s a young player full of potential and he’s just 19. I’m very happy that he’s French! He knows football very well already, there’s no denying that. In an important match, he showed all of his talent. Even though he had to defend at times, it didn’t stop him from attacking extremely well.”
Antoine Griezmann (France forward): “We know that there are lots of French people watching us and expecting great things. We’re just trying to rise to the occasion. Sometimes there are not-so-good matches, like against Denmark, and then there are matches like today’s. Out on the pitch, we want to see Kylian like that, making the break by earning a penalty and then going on to score two goals. He did us the world of good. We had some tough moments in the match when Argentina were the superior side, but we stuck together. We have a great team that will be very hard to beat.”
Paul Pogba (France midfielder): “It’s magnificent. What we did today, what we showed out on the pitch – mentally, physically and technically – was on par with the great French teams. It’s not over yet. We showed our qualities and showed that we can mix it with the biggest teams and rise to the occasion, but we’re not world champions. We’ll celebrate until tomorrow, but after that we’ll get right back into it.”
Jorge Sampaoli (Argentina coach): “It was a very complicated match but the lads really gave everything they could give. We’re all very frustrated. There were situations where our opponents won the ball because of team errors on our part. The lads tried to do their best but we were up against some extremely fast players. Mbappé had an incredible evening; he really hurt us a lot.”
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