France was tested by an adventurous Moroccan team but showed their championship mettle as they won their semi-final match by 2-0 to set up a dream final for many fans.

They will now meet Argentina as they try to become the first team in 60 years to win the World Cup back-to-back. Morocco will face Croatia on Saturday, December 17 for a third-place finish but no matter what they can walk away from the tournament knowing that they went further than any other African nation.

Morocco’s magnificent support, who flooded into Doha in their thousands to splash the stadium in red, were left tearful but proud as France finally made class and efficiency tell, striking at either end of a gripping encounter to win 2-0.

France against Argentina sets up a classic final with two of the most dominant footballers in the world right now when Kylian Mbappe comes up against Lionel Messi. The Paris St Germain teammates will be international adversaries on the sport’s biggest stage.

The 23-year-old Frenchman is going for his second World Cup winner’s medal, while the Argentine genius – 12 years his senior – has one last crack at winning the crown that would bolster his claims to be the greatest to have ever played the game.

Messi is at the end of a career in which he has won everything the game has to offer – except for the biggest of them all, the World Cup. This is now or never after he lost the 2014 final to Germany.