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The 2018 FIFA World Cup has finally come to an end, and France have established themselves as the World Champions for the second time in the country's history.
The 21st edition of the tournament was a treat for fans around the world and finally ended with a 6-goal game between France and Croatia.
The tournament will be remembered for many things. Penalties, own goals, late goals, and underdog wins were the trademarks of this year's World Cup.
Several records have been broken throughout the course of the tournament, seemingly smaller teams have knocked out powerhouses, players have scored awe-inspiring goals, and VAR has been the talk of the town.
This year's World Cup saw 169 goals being scored, with Harry Kane's 6 goals the most scored by any player. On the other hand, Thibaut Courtois made 27 saves, the highest number of saves in the 2018 World Cup, to win the Golden Glove.
This World Cup has also seen a number of historic moments. Here is a list of 5 historic moments at the 2018 World Cup.
#5 VAR PENALTY DECISIONS
France have a knack for creating history in the World Cup, and a lot of their historic moments seem to involve penalties.
On 19 July 1930, France became the first team to concede a penalty in the World Cup. French goalkeeper, Alex Thepot, saved the spot kick to become the first-ever goalkeeper to save a penalty in the World Cup.
Fast forward 88 years and France became the first team to be awarded a penalty kick via VAR. This was a historic moment as many had been apprehensive about the use of video referee in football. In France's match against Australia, Antoine Griezmann became the first player in the World Cup to score a penalty that was awarded after consultation with VAR.
VAR again came into play in the final match of the tournament, and again it was France that was in the thick of the action.
#4 Ronaldo's hat-trick against Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo is known for breaking records. The 5-time Ballon d'Or winner came into the 2018 World Cup with 3 World Cup goals to his name. By the time he left Russia the Portugal captain had scored 4 goals, taking his World Cup total to 7 goals, 3 of which came against the mighty Spain.
The 2010 World Champions, who have appeared in 15 of the 21 World Cups, had never before conceded a hat-trick in a World Cup.
Ronaldo's 3 goals not only saved Portugal from defeat but also documented another record to his name.
#3 Subasic's penalty shootout heroics
Croatia's goalkeeper, Danijel Subasic, became his country's savior when he pulled off three fantastic saves in their penalty shootout against Denmark.
This feat, however, not only made him a national hero but also engraved his name in the history books.
The 2018 World Cup match between Croatia and Denmark will always be remembered for 6 penalty saves, and Subasic made three of them to become the second man in history to stop three shots in a World Cup penalty shootout.
#2 Mario Mandzukic's own goal
To be honest, Mandzukic had a wonderful World Cup. He scored 3 times for Croatia, the equalizer against Denmark, the winner in the semifinals, and a consolation goal in the final.
The world, however, will forever remember him for scoring an own goal in the World Cup final, a goal that gave France the lead over Croatia.
This was the first ever own goal in a World Cup final, and this is one record that the Juventus man will not want to be credited to his name.
He did find redemption when he took advantage of a mistake by French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, but that was not enough to get Croatia back into the game.
#1 Mbappe's goal in the final
Kylian Mbappe was one of France's best players throughout the tournament. With 4 goals in the tournament, Mbappe won the Best Young Player Award along with the World Cup.
His most memorable goal will surely be the one that he got in the final, against Croatia, that made him only the second teenager to score a goal in a World Cup final.
The feat was previously achieved by the great Pele in 1958.
Pele was 17 years old when he scored in the World Cup final against Sweden, and Mbappe became the youngest player since Pele to score in a World Cup final.
