Danish striker Jesper Lindstrom believes France’s ‘crazy team’ should at least reach the World Cup final.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice on Saturday as the World Cup holders became the first team to secure a place in the Round of 16 in Qatar with a 2-1 victory over the Danes. It’s the first time the defending champions have reached the knockout stage since Brazil in 2006.
Andreas Christensen canceled out Mbappe’s opener at the 974 stadium but the Paris Saint-Germain striker came home after Antoine Griezmann’s cross to claim the Group D points.
Mbappe was the star in Doha, but Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot and Olivier Giroud were all excellent too.
With such a star-studded squad, Eintracht Frankfurt striker Lindstrom sees no reason for France not to reach the showpiece of the tournament on December 18.
“Look at the team, I think they should at least get to the final,” Lindstrom said.
“They have winners. Mbappe, Dembele, Griezmann, Tchouameni…even on the bench, they have a crazy squad.
“I think the game is always open when you play against Dembele and Mbappe, it’s always going to be difficult with their speed.”
Although they failed to score, France dominated the first half, with 13 shots and racking up 0.99 expected goals (xG) to Denmark’s 0.05, with Kasper Schmeichel making two fine saves.
After scoring in the final in Russia four years ago and in the 4-1 win over Australia on Tuesday, Mbappe is only the second player to score in three consecutive World Cup appearances for France since Just Fontaine, who scored in six consecutive appearances at the 1958 tournament.
Mbappe now has 31 goals for the Blues, scoring 14 times in his last 12 games.
“He’s one of them – top quality,” Lindstrom replied when asked if Mbappe was the best player he had faced.
“He scored two goals so you can’t say we defended him well, but our winger was close to him. But you see, he has the qualities to score when he gets the chance.”
Rasmus Kristensen was the defender in charge of scoring Mbappe, and the Leeds United right-back said: “Difficult. A good player, a very, very good player.
“For me, maybe the best in the world. It’s a privilege to play against the best. I was just trying to do my best.”
