Félicitations, Benjamin Pavard!

Just eight short months ago, Benjamin Pavard made his debut in the French national team colours. On November 10^th, 2017, the 22-year-old was involved for one half of a 2-0 win over Wales. This Sunday, the VfB defender made his twelfth appearance for ‘Equipe Tricolore’ – and what a game it was! France clashed with Croatia in the World Cup final. Benjamin Pavard, who was again in the starting eleven, and his team mates got off to the better start in the final. A free-kick delivered by Antoine Griezmann was flicked on into his own goal by Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic, to make it 1-0 for the French (18‘). The lead was only to hold for ten minutes though, with Ivan Perisic putting the Croatians back on level terms (28‘). However, before the break, France took the lead again, with Antoine Griezmann converting from the penalty-spot to make it 2-1 at the break (38‘).   

After the restart, the side from head-coach Didier Deschamps intermittently extended their lead to 4-1, thanks to goals from Paul Pogba (59‘) and Kylian Mbappé (65‘), before Croatia cut the deficit to 2-4 through Mario Mandzukic (69‘). In the remaining minutes, there was to be no doubting as to who was going to claim the crown. And Benjamin Pavard was to have a decisive role to play in deciding the destination of the elusive trophy, starting and completing six from seven of France’s games. In the ‘Round of 16’ clash with Argentina, the defender also scored his first ever international goal – a stunning strike from distance to make it intermittently 2-2, in a game that would finish 4-2 for the Europeans. Following in the footsteps of Guido Buchwald (1990 with Germany) and Carlos Dunga (1994 with Brazil), Pavard is the third VfB player to win the World Cup. For France, it’s their second title success following their victory in 1998.

VfB congratulate Benjamin Pavard heartily on winning the World Cup title! Chapeau, Benjamin!