Truth be told if he was he MVP they would have won. Instead he contributed substantially to France being down 0-2 in the first place, a deficit if they were wit

Truth be told if he was he MVP they would have won. Instead he contributed substantially to France being down 0-2 in the first place, a deficit if they were without they would have won handily. His defensive work rate was worse than Messi who is 12 years his senior and has one foot out the door to retirement already. This caused Giroud to be swapped out and Mbappe to be moved more centrally so they could make up for his unwillingness to track back. Arguably this was also why Di Maria was able to completely savage the left wing, forcing the penalty out of Dembele. He scored when he got the ball and that is great but he isn't yet the complete player that Messi is. Messi got the MVP today because he won the match for his team, through yes, a goal and a penalty but more importantly through drawing out space for Di Maria to generate the opportunities that created that initial lead.