France forward Kylian Mbappe is “ignoring the talk about him” before Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against England, says Hugo Lloris. Mbappe, 23, is the leading scorer in the tournament with five goals. A lot of the pre-match talk from ex-players has centered around how England and right-back Kyle Walker will deal with the threat posed by Mbappe. But Lloris stressed: “He is focused on his objectives and seems very happy, as he has since the tournament began.” “He is preparing very well and he is ignoring the talk about him.” France are unbeaten in Mbappe’s 13 starts at major tournaments – winning all nine at the World Cup – and he has been directly involved in 12 goals in those fixtures, with the Paris St-Germain forward either scoring or assisting France’s past seven World Cup goals. He leads his team’s statistics in a host of offensive metrics including shots (20), open play attacking sequence involvements (36) and opposition penalty area touches (46) at this year’s World Cup in Qatar. Manchester City’s Walker and Mbappe have faced each other three times at club level, with the England defender winning two of those games. “England will have prepared for Kylian, but he is in a position to make the difference,” said France coach Didier Deschamps, who led his side to 2018 World Cup glory. “Even in his last match he wasn’t at his best, not in top form, but he was still decisive [scoring twice in a 3-1 win against Poland]. “We have other players, but Kylian is Kylian and he always will be.”
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