A show of strength from France, even if it also brooked a glimmer of weakness. The defending champions are through to the second round: the first team to qualify for the knockout stages, and even if they are yet to dominate they have already shown more than enough to serve notice on the rest of the competition. You can match their effort. You can thwart their tactics. But they’ll still always have Kylian.
Yes: once again, it was the Mbappé show. The others tried their level best. In terms of influence, Antoine Griezmann may well have been the best player on the pitch. Ousmane Dembélé was sensational on the France right, showing why Mbappé has been so keen to lure him to Paris. Theo Hernández had a great game at left-back. And yet once again it was Mbappé who walked off as the star, gurning for the cameras, moving ominously to the top of the Golden Boot standings, just another highly lucrative day of business at Kylian Mbappé Inc.
