Winter: Kyle Walker tamed Kylian Mbappe, but this defeat hurts

Walker can reflect on his night’s work with pride. He gave everything. He concentrated hard, he read Mbappé’s movement. Olivier Giroud proved France’s main attacking threat, along with the outstanding Antoine Griezmann, but they were gifted some space by Walker, occasionally John Stones, Jordan Henderson and Bukayo Saka having to keep an eye on Mbappé.

Not until 11 minutes into the second half did Mbappé really test Walker for pace, showing the England right back that formidable acceleration, and Walker for the first time on the night really laboured. Until then, France struggled to get the ball left to Mbappé and isolate Walker. Whenever the France No 10 ventured into a threatening position, Walker had help. Operation Mbappé was a collective effort. Henderson was on the right of midfield and quick to push across. Saka sped back to assist his full back. England threw a suffocating blanket over France’s most dangerous player.

Mbappé had strolled smiling from the French bus, hands in pockets, pods in ears, ready for business, not expecting this tactical trap. Walker cut an intense figure as he headed towards the England dressing-room, focused on the weighty challenge looming. Their match-up was billed as the key decisive duel, so there were huge cheers from the England fans as Walker darted in front of Mbappé to clear in the first minute.

England supporters chose to berate the best player on the planet, booing him when he gained possession early on. The second-most expensive player in history at £166 million, a world champion at 19, took the abuse as a compliment. The insults must have sounded like respect, and certainly carried worrying echoes of England followers’ attempted belittling of Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic a decade ago in Stockholm. Ibrahimovic promptly scored four. This was different. England had a plan for the danger-man.

Mbappé’s presence did briefly unnerve Walker, who gave the ball away, and had a swift confab with his Manchester City team-mate, Stones. England fans immediately voiced their backing for Walker, applauding his calm chest control of a Jordan Pickford clearance before he moved inside, launching a counter.

Mbappé did not seem particularly bothered with closing Walker down. France were content to let Stones and Harry Maguire just knock the ball around at the back. Yet Mbappé was always lurking, idling in second gear, but only occasionally bursting into life and pace and threat, taking a pass from Adrien Rabiot but lifting the ball just too far for Ousmane Dembélé at the far-post. “Allez les Bleus” rang out

Even though Mbappé had a relatively quiet half by his standards, he was inevitably involved in France’s 17th-minute goal. After what looked a foul by Dayot Upamecano on Saka, France quickly worked the ball upfield to Mbappé, who dribbled in from the left, rode Declan Rice’s challenge, before slipping the ball to Dembélé. Griezmann, France’s best player in the first half, teed up Aurélien Tchouaméni’s exceptional strike.

Walker dealt well with Mbappé for the rest of the half, lifting a clearance over him after 29 minutes and then calmly standing his ground as the 23-year-old ran at him, waiting his moment expertly before intercepting. When Raphaël Varane cleared long, Walker cleverly went touch-tight to Mbappé, then dropped a yard, ducking under the ball and steering it away from his celebrated opponent.

Mbappé showed some of those fabled, velvet touches, a cushioning of the ball to guide it past Saka, and then another glimpse of his class as he dribbled cross-field, fouled by Rice, racing on, before being fouled by Harry Kane, and going down. England tried to direct him into cul de sacs. He combined with Theo Hernández, then Upamecano, and the move petered out. Gareth Southgate’s grand design was working. All of his players were alive to Mbappé’s menace. That was the plan. Executing it was another matter. From a clever France free kick, clearly designed to work the ball to Mbappé in a yard of space, he leant back and shot over. It was a bad miss, and England supporters cackled haughtily.

England fans had decided to deride him, trying to put a thoroughbred off his stride. When he went down under a Stones challenge, and appealed ambitiously for a free kick, Mbappé was booed loudly. The referee, Wilton Pereira Sampaio, waved Mbappé up to great English approval.

Then came that flash of his speed that caught Walker out, leading to a chance wasted by Dembélé, but the defender stayed strong, and soon put into a magnificent clearance.

Walker was then turned by Mbappé, who tried to sprint past him but Raheem Sterling, on as a substitute, shuttled back to bar his way. Operation Mbappé worked. But not the overall game plan. Walker can hold his head up high, though.

- The Times