France won the World Cup for the second time by ending battling Croatia's dream of a first title with a 4-2 victory on Sunday in one of the most entertaining and action-packed finals for decades. France led 2-1 at halftime after a Mario Mandzukic own goal and an Antoine Griezmann VAR penalty, with Ivan Perisic briefly bringing first-time finalists Croatia level. After that, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe found the back of the net past Danijel Subasic to put the game beyond Croatia. Mario Mandzukic did score a second for Croatia but they could not do much more.
News18Sports takes you through the six goals once again:
France - 1 Croatia - 0 (18th minute)
An Antoine Greizmann corner skidded off the head of Mario Mandzukic and into the back of the net past a helpless Danijel Subasic. It was the first ever own-goal scored in a World Cup final and the 12th of this tournament.
France - 1 Croatia - 1 (28th minute)
A Luka Modric free-kick from the right found the head of Sime Vrsaljko before coming out to Ivan Perisic on the edge of the penalty box. Perisic smashed in a low shot through a crowd past Hugo Lloris and into the net to bring things to level terms.
France - 2 Croatia - 1 (38th minute)
An Antoine Griezmann corner was directed at Blaise Matuidi but in between it caught the hand of Perisic as he tried to clear. France appealed as the referee initially said play on. VAR came into the picture as France continued to insist and after a while a penalty was given which Griezmann converted with aplomb.
France - 3 Croatia - 1 (59th minute)
France continued attack as they were aware Croatia could comeback at any time and they went 3-1 up on the hour as Kylian Mbappe and Griezmann combined to set up Paul Pogba on the edge of the box. His right-footed shot was blocked but he coolly curved the rebound in with his left.
France - 4 Croatia - 1 (65th minute)
Kylian Mbappe found a pocket of space outside the Croatia area as the defense backed off and he picked out the bottom left corner with a precise finish past Subasic.
France - 4 Croatia - 2 (69th minute)
Croatia threw everything in attack as they looked for a way back from an improbable situation, and it was their high relentless pressing that helped them reduce the deficit. Mario Mandzukic closed down Hugo Lloris who tried to dribble past him and poked it into the goal to embarrass the France captain.
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