It will be a battle of the titans when 23-year-old Kylian Mbappe and the defending champion France take on Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final on Sunday at Lusail Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Lionel Scaloni, the coach of Argentina, has emphasised that the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday against France will be a “collective effort, not individual” one. He also believes that his team is ready for the title match at Lusail Stadium.

As he attempts to remain “cool” before the championship game, France’s captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris stated that the FIFA World Cup final is a contest between two footballing nations and that the spotlight shouldn’t be on specific players.

Argentina’s poster boy, Lionel Messi, who is competing in the fifth World Cup and is searching for one elusive prize that is missing from his cabinet, the FIFA World Cup trophy, has become the centre of attention before the game.

Messi, 35, will play in his 26th World Cup game on Sunday, one more than German Lothar Matthaus, setting a tournament record. Argentina will compete for a third crown, much like France.

On the other side, In order to successfully defend the title they won in Russia four years ago, France will go all guns blazing on Argentina’s defence. 

Many people are saying, the stars have aligned for Messi and co. Although Messi has long been the focus of La Albiceleste, the team can succeed without just Messi. Messi leads the tournament with three assists and shares the lead with five goals. If he continues to be tied with Mbappe in goals, then that would award him the Golden Boot.

With four goals and the penalty that Messi converted against Croatia, Julian Alvarez has contributed almost as much to the team’s victory. With 10 shots on target, Messi is level with Mbappe for the tournament lead, while Alvarez has seven. 32 of Argentina’s 76 shots in Qatar were on target.

Compared to France, who have only hit the target on 36 per cent of their shots, they have put 42 per cent of their shots on goal. France has enabled the objective to be reached on 20 out of 60 attempts, whilst Argentina has only allowed the goal to be reached on eight out of 34 efforts. 

France has only kept one clean sheet in Qatar and has committed blunders at the back. In their quarterfinal match, England put eight of their 16 shots on goal against a Moroccan team that generates little chances. In 15 games, Argentina has kept 10 clean sheets while scoring two goals or more in 12. 

But there are also high odds of France winning the cup, The French national team has scored twice in five of the six games they have played in Qatar, and they are in the final for the fourth time in their last seven outings. The lone exception was a 1-0 loss to Tunisia when they started the game without some of their top players. When fellow Real Madrid star Karim Benzema got an injury during a practice session in the ongoing World Cup, Mbappe took over, and Olivier Giroud made the most of his opportunity.

Giroud still has four goals to score for a total of 53, and Mbappe has five in Qatar for a total of 33 in just 63 international appearances. Seasoned Griezmann ranks third all-time in goals with 42 and 26 strong assists, he will be the one player to watch out for.

Griezmann and Mbappe duo have combined for five assists, and Theo Hernandez added a goal and two assists on Wednesday.

France has 33 shots that are on goal while only stopping 20. After France took an early lead, Morocco controlled the ball for 62 percent of the game on Wednesday, but they only converted three of their 13 efforts. After keeping Morocco scoreless, the defence should be more assured, and goalie Hugo Lloris’ background is crucial. He has made 144 appearances, most in the country’s history and has eight clean sheets in 19 World Cup games.