If France are to emerge victorious from Sunday’s World Cup final against Croatia, then Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante will likely have had a major role in their success, as the duo will need to be at their best to nullify Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, while also contributing to their own side’s attacking efforts.
Didier Deschamps’ midfielders will act as border patrol in front of their defence, and they will be officers who do not grant anyone’s easy passage.
“They are always there, sometimes it is a bit exasperating,” said their latest victim, Kevin De Bruyne.
The two Premier League rivals compliment each other beautifully.
Kante’s role is more positional and based on short, simple passes, while Pogba’s is slightly more loose and is based on vertical, defence-destroying passes.
The Chelsea man devours the kilometres with ease, and in 540 minutes at this World Cup so far he has covered 62.7km.
Meanwhile Pogba takes advantage of his partner’s lungs, saving his explosions for effective shorter bursts.
In 449 minutes for the Manchester United star, he has covered 48.5km.
Also Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann are expected to light up Luzhniki Stadium as well.
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Croatians also run
Modric and Rakitic cover their fair share of ground too, before even mentioning the space that Marcelo Brozovic gets across.
The two LaLiga stars are not afraid to roll up their sleeves themselves and have already racked up over 20km more than their final opponents, with three of their games so far having gone to extra-time.
Exhaustion was expected to take hold during the semi-final clash with England, but they somehow tapped into an extra source of energy to secure their place on Sunday.
“I don’t know where we got so much strength from, but we were not as physically weak as our rivals thought,” said Modric after his heroic performance.
The battle will be fascinating whatever the outcome, and it will be more than just physical.
Croatia’s midfield boast 200 passes more than France’s, though they have effectively played one game more.
