Lionel Scaloni, the Argentina coach, insists it is far too simplistic to boil the Lusail Stadium encounter down to a Messi-Mbappe head-to-head.

"It will be more of a collective effort, not an individual effort," said Scaloni, in charge since August 2018. "Mbappe is a top player, obviously, but France have a number of great players, they work for [Mbappe] and that makes him even better. He's one of the top players, he's still young. so can improve for sure.

"The match will be beyond Messi v Mbappe. We have weapons, strengths, and the match will be defined by every player, not just these two. "Messi is doing very well and we hope we win, but this is Argentina v France and there are many players who can define this game."