Kick-off: 1500, 18/12/2022
Stadium: Lusail Iconic Stadium
TV: BBC/ITV
Argentina and France will meet in a mouth-watering World Cup final on Sunday, highlighted by the Lionel Messi versus Kylian Mbappe sub-plot.
In a battle of the ages, arguably the greatest footballer of all time will take on his PSG teammate, who is rated by many as the best player on the planet right now.
Of course, both are backed up by excellent supporting casts and this clash is expected to come down to just a few key moments.
Overall, though, we just favour the South American outfit on Qatar 2022 form and 17/20 for them to lift the trophy is our first Argentina vs France prediction.
Argentina Odds
Messi has inspired Argentina throughout what will be his last World Cup and he was again at his mercurial best in a 3-0 semi-final drubbing of Croatia.
The 35-year-old seven-time Ballon d’Or winner clinically fired in a 34th-minute penalty and Julian Alvarez soon added a second with a fine solo effort.
Croatia showed few signs of getting back into the game and were killed off for good when Messi produced a moment of magic to set up Alvarez to poke home a 69th-minute strike.
La Albiceleste have the advantage of now returning to Lusail Iconic Stadium and Messi declared: “I am enjoying this a lot. I am feeling really good.”
It is hard to believe Argentina started out with a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia, but they have gone from strength to strength since that bizarre blip.
Last year’s Copa America champions eased past Mexico and Poland and were more impressive than the results suggest in beating Australia 2-1 and then seeing off Netherlands on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
“I would say that the first match was a hard blow for all of us because we had been unbeaten in 36 matches,” Messi added. “To start in such a way in a World Cup was a really hard blow.
“We have since played five finals, and luckily enough we were able to win the five finals – and I hope this will be the same way for the final game.
“I would say that internally we were confident that we would make it because we know what we are capable of as a squad, as a team.
“Yes, we lost in the first match due to fine details but from then on that really helped us to be stronger and to be able to grow even more in this tournament and also to grow internally as a squad.”
La Albiceleste have some willing workhorses backing up Messi and Alvarez and we like Argentina vs France odds.
France Odds
France have been less convincing than they were in Russia four years ago but remain in contention to become the first back-to-back World Cup winners since Brazil in 1962.
Group-stage victories over Australia and Denmark meant that losing 1-0 to Tunisia with a much-changed line-up was academic.
Poland provided little resistance when going down 3-1 but Les Bleus enjoyed the rub of the green in a 2-1 triumph over England.
Morocco also made the holders work hard in the semi-finals and fortunate deflections fell to Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani for both goals in a 2-0 success.
Didier Deschamps revealed some of his players had been hit by flu-like symptoms but will have been happy with a first clean sheet of the tournament – and France do have a happy knack of digging deep and getting the job done even when not playing well.
They beat Argentina 4-3 in the round of 16 in Russia, but Deschamps warned: “This Argentina side is different to the one we played four years ago.
“We have two sides with a great deal of quality and it will be up to key players to make a difference, maybe the team that makes fewest mistakes will win the game.”
Certain match-ups should favour Les Bleus, as Argentina’s defence lacks the pace to cope with Mbappe or the height to handle the aerial threat of Olivier Giroud.
However, we still feel Deschamps has his own problems at the back and 5/1 for La Albiceleste to win and both teams to score is added to our Argentina vs France betting tips.
Don’t forget Les Bleus are without several influential figures, including Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Karim Benzema, so 31/10 for them to lose by any one-goal margin is another pick.
Player statistic
| Lionel Messi |  |
23' | ||
| Ángel Di María (Assist: Alexis Mac Allister) |
 |
36' | ||
| Enzo Fernández |  |
45+7' | ||
| 55' | |
Adrien Rabiot | ||
| 80' | |
Kylian Mbappé | ||
| 81' | |
Kylian Mbappé (Assist: Marcus Thuram) | ||
| 87' | |
Marcus Thuram | ||
| Marcos Acuña | |
90+8' | ||
| 90+5' | |
Olivier Giroud | ||
| Lionel Messi | |
108' | ||
| Leandro Paredes | |
114' | ||
| Gonzalo Montiel | |
116' | ||
| 118' | |
Kylian Mbappé |
Match statistic
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