Ten goals were scored on an exhilarating day of football on Saturday as France and Uruguay secured their passage to the World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of Argentina and Portugal.
Fantasy managers bid farewell to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for what could be the final time at a World Cup as Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani upstaged their more esteemed peers with two goals apiece.
France 4-3 Argentina
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS:
- Kylian Mbappe (£9.0m) – 12 points
- Lionel Messi (£11.9m) – 8 points
- Angel Di Maria (£8.8m) – 7 points
- Antoine Griezmann (£10.0m) – 6 points
- Benjamin Pavard (£4.5m) – 6 points
- Gabriel Mercado (£5.4m) – 6 points
- Sergio Aguero (£9.9m) – 5 points
- Olivier Giroud (£8.9m) – 4 points
- Ever Banega (£6.9m) – 4 points
- Lucas Hernandez (£5.0m) – 4 points
The round of 16 began with a superb seven-goal thriller in Kazan, as 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe (£9.0m) outshone the more widely owned forwards in the shape of Lionel Messi (£11.9m) and Antoine Griezmann (£10.0m) with a brace and two additional points for his penalty win.
The scoring indeed opened with Griezmann’s 13th-minute spot-kick, awarded for a foul on Mbappe committed by Marcos Rojo (£5.5m). The Manchester United defender, the hero in Argentina’s final group match win over Nigeria, endured a torrid afternoon, picking up a booking and being substituted at half-time by coach Jorge Sampaoli.
Griezmann had earlier hit the bar from a free-kick attempt and France looked the better side until Angel Di Maria‘s (£8.8m) stunning strike brought the scores level. Ever Banega (£6.9m) collected the assist.
Argentina went in front soon after half-time when Gabriel Mercado (£5.4m) deflected a Messi shot past a helpless Hugo Lloris (£6.0m), before what was arguably the goal of the tournament so far levelled things up once more.
A fizzed cross from Lucas Hernandez (£5.0m) found fellow full-back Benjamin Pavard (£4.5m) just outside the Argentinean box and the Stuttgart defender crashed a swerving, Nacho-esque shot past goalkeeper Franco Armani (£4.9m) to restore parity.
Mbappe turned on the style to win Les Bleus the tie, first creating space for himself in the Argentinean box to put France in front and then finishing off a swift breakaway after being put through by Olivier Giroud (£8.9m).
Sergio Aguero‘s (£9.9m) stoppage-time header from a Messi cross was ultimately in vain for the 2014 runners-up.
France XI (4-3-3): Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Kante, Pogba, Matuidi (Tolisso 75′); Mbappe (Thauvin 89′), Griezmann (Fekir 83′), Giroud
Argentina XI (4-4-2): Armani; Mercado, Tagliafico, Rojo (Fazio 45′), Otamendi; Banega, Perez (Aguero 66′), Mascherano, Di Maria; Pavon (Meza 75′), Messi
Uruguay 2-1 Portugal
TOP-SCORING PLAYERS
- Edinson Cavani (£9.5m) – 10 points
- Pepe (£6.0m) – 7 points
- Luis Suarez (£10.0m) – 5 points
- Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.0m) – 5 points
- Raphael Guerreiro (£5.5m) – 4 points
- Fernando Muslera (£5.7m) – 3 points
While owners of Lionel Messi could at least console themselves with two assists from their premium forward, there was no such parting gift from Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.1m).
After scoring on four occasions in his first two group fixtures, Ronaldo blanked for the second successive match as Portugal failed to make the quarter-finals for the third consecutive World Cup.
An injury-time yellow card capped off a miserable evening for the Portuguese captain, who will be 37 years old by the time Qatar 2022 rolls around.
Portugal, at least, managed to do what no other side had done in the tournament to date: breach the Uruguayan defence.
Pepe‘s (£6.0m) 55th-minute header from a Raphael Guerreiro (£5.5m) corner was the first goal Uruguay had conceded in 2018 and brought the scores level at 1-1, following Edinson Cavani‘s (£9.5m) early first-half strike.
The Paris Saint-Germain striker opened the scoring from a Luis Suarez (£10.0m) cross and was to be Uruguay’s match-winner on 62 minutes, steering a superb shot past Rui Patricio (£6.0m) on a day of first-rate goals. Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.0m) picked up the assist for Cavani’s clincher.
Uruguay’s victory was soured somewhat when Cavani limped off with a quarter of an hour of the match to play with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Uruguay XI (4-4-2): Muslera; Caceres, Godin, Gimenez, Laxalt; Torreira, Vecino, Nandez (Sanchez 81′), Bentancur (Rodriguez 63′); Suarez, Cavani (Stuani 74′)
Portugal XI (4-4-2): Patricio; Ricardo Perreira, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; William Carvalho, Adrien Silva (Quaresma 65′), Joao Mario (Fernandes 85′), Bernardo Silva; Ronaldo, Goncalo Guedes (Andre Silva 74′)
World Cup Data
We’re delighted to offer World Cup data as an early addition to our regular season offering to help those playing Fantasy games over the summer.
We’ve secured Opta data, not only for the tournament itself, but also from the Qualifying Rounds for Europe and South America and for international friendlies involving the participating nations. This includes all the matches played right up to the tournament kick-off.
Just to stress, this World Cup offering comes packaged with the regular Fantasy Football Scout membership.
Check out this new trailer detailing the World Cup content below…
McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy
Join our McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy league ‘FantasyFootballScout’ using the code: HEWJPVYR
Fantasy iTeam
Fantasy Football Scout is supporting Fantasy iTeam, a free World Cup game available on a number of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch and Android. We have an official Fantasy Football Scout League open to UK users only, with a £1000 of Amazon vouchers to give out, split between the top three performers. There’s also the small matter of £10k worth of prizes available in the main competitions: Overall World Championship and Manager of the Gameround.
Click here for details and here to sign up.
Our League name is Fantasy Football Scout and the pin is 1887.
Please note, users must be over 18 and based in the UK to join our league.
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