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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
David McDonnell & Freddie Keighley

France vs Poland ratings as Kylian Mbappe lights World Cup to send holders through

Kylian Mbappe scored two sublime goals as France stormed into the World Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable victory over Poland on Sunday afternoon.

The Paris Saint-Germain superstar struck twice in the second half after Olivier Giroud opened the scoring just before the interval, with the latter becoming the defending champions' record goalscorer in the process. Robert Lewandowski scored an added-time penalty - which needed to be retaken after Hugo Lloris saved his first spot kick but was off his line early - to grab some consolation for Poland.

The result means France will take on the winner of England and Senegal's last-16 clash in the quarters on Saturday evening. Here are Mirror Football's ratings from a pulsating contest at Al Thumama Stadium.

France (4-2-3-1)

Lloris 7; Kounde 7 (Disasi, 90'), Varane 7, Upamecano 7, T Hernandez 7; Rabiot 7, Tchouameni 7 (Fofana 66', 6); Dembele 8 (Coman 76'), Griezmann 8, Mbappe 9; Giroud 8 (Thuram, 76')

Poland (4-1-4-1)

Szczesny 6; Cash 6, Gilk 5, Kiwior 5 (Bednarek, 86'), Bereszynski 6; Krychowiak 6 (Bielik, 71'); Kaminski 6 (Zalewiski, 71'), Zielinski 6, Szymanski 5 (Milik 64', 5), Frankowski 5 (Grosicki, 87'); Lewandowski 5

Man of the Match

Mbapee. Set up the opener then scored two sensational goals. Unplayable in this kind of form.

Referee

Jesus Valenzuela 6

Will France win the World Cup in Qatar? Have your say in the comments!

Kylian Mbappe scored a brilliant double to send France through (Getty Images)

Mbappe drew lavish praise from his former PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino after France's victory, but the Argentine was not wholly convinced by Les Bleus' display. "Professional performance, job done," Pochettino said on BBC Sport.

"But when you have Mbappe, he's capable of what he did today. He showed his fantastic, amazing talent. But I think it's time to take time and analyse because France need to improve a lot. Individual performance amazing - [Antoine] Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe, Lloris - but I think they need to push their level up. One thing is important: if they want to be real contenders, they need to play like a team and today was too much importance on the individual."

Rio Ferdinand echoed Pochettino's comments on Mbappe, saying: " I think today was the most explosive [performance] we've seen, devastating in all areas. It's endearing, you want to see him to do well. We said before the tournament, we want genuine players coming in and putting on performances that amplify that superstardom, and he's doing that now."

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