For French people, losing to West Germany in Seville in the semi-finals of the 1982 World Cup is the most glorious defeat in our history. We were leading 3-1 in extra-time but Germany came back to 3-3 before we lost on penalties.
It has taken us 40 years to forget that game and maybe now it will take us another 40 years to forget what happened against Argentina Sunday night.
For Randal Kolo Muani, his miss in the final moments of extra-time will be a lifelong regret. Maybe he will not be able to sleep until next year. It is impossible to forget that chance but he was terrific in the game and had the guts to take a penalty in the shootout.
We were absolutely absent from the final for the first 80 minutes before Didier Deschamps made some changes to bring some energy to the team. Kylian Mbappe, of course, was brilliant. The way he can change the mood of the game is incredible.
What he did in those 97 seconds... wow. Mbappe is already one of the greatest players in the game and if he can last as long as Lionel Messi then he could still have another three World Cups ahead of him.
Of course in France we are disappointed to lose, but when you love football, you love Messi. And if you love Messi then you are happy for him to achieve this. It is a magnificent story. This has been a great World Cup because of Messi and his quest.
We all thought in France before the game that it was a mistake to bill the final as a battle of individuals: Messi vs Mbappe. But actually that was the story of the game and it will go down as a legendary final… because of the scenario, because of Messi, because of the way France came back. It was the greatest World Cup Final ever.
Reaching the final without so many injured players was a surprise for us in France, and the only good team we have beaten was England and that was not so well deserved. So it has been a strange World Cup.
Everybody in France wants Deschamps to continue as France coach, everybody except maybe Zinedine Zidane! Deschamps will hold talks with the French Football Federation in January and I think he will continue. He has never won the European Championship as a coach, so that is his next goal.
