Argentina v France: Messi on brink of glorious ending in tough-to-call World Cup final

Both teams are 10/11 to lift the trophy, but a virus in the French camp which has affected Adrien Rabiot, Dayot Upemecano, Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate has led to the South Americans becoming slight favourites at 17/10 in the World Cup odds, with Les Bleus 7/4 to get the job done inside 90 minutes and become the first country since Brazil in 1962 to retain their title.

We have compared Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, and looked at the World Cup top scorer odds, but now we turn our attention to the final in our Argentina v France betting tips.

Griezmann could be the key to unlock Argentina defence

The final has been billed as a clash between one of the greatest players of all time, Lionel Messi, and his heir apparent Kylian Mbappe, but most of the talk has centred around the influence of Antoine Griezmann, who has been playing in a slightly deeper role than he normally does with the national team.

Griezmann played behind main striker Olivier Giroud when these teams met in a rollercoaster round-of-16 tie at the 2018 World Cup which France won 4-3 thanks to a second-half double from Mbappe.

This man has been 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👊

What a tournament Antoine Griezmann is having! 👏🇫🇷#FIFAWorldCup | #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/6tPCKBIjGx

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 15, 2022

With Ousmane Dembele playing on the right and Mbappe on the left, Griezmann has been popping u[ all over the pitch and was man of the match against Morocco, so cannot be ruled out for the Golden Ball with the joint most assists (three) at this World Cup.

The Atletico Madrid star to provide an assist has been boosted from 16/5 to 7/2 and is one of our Argentina v France bettng tips.

Whether we get another thrilling encounter similar to Russia is open to question, but France can be backed at 24/5 to win and concede, with La Albiceleste 5/1 in the same market.

BTTS on cards in showpiece

Instead of picking a winner, we prefer both teams to score at close to evens (20/21) in the World Cup betting as the first of our Argentina v France betting tips.

Argentina have scored in all six matches, while France’s only failure came against Tunisia when Didier Deschamps made wholesale changes having already qualified for the knockout stage.

For those looking at bigger odds, both teams to score and at least three goals is 7/4, while more than four is available at 15/4, but encounters between these teams rarely produce high-scoring contests, with seven of the last nine involving two or fewer.

With both teams having four of the top scorers in the competition it would not be a surprise to see goals at both ends and with little to choose between the teams, a score draw has its merits at 10/3.

France were fortunate to get past England in the quarter-finals and had a few scary moments against Morocco, namely a penalty shout in the first half only for Sofiane Boufal to be booked instead for a foul on Theo Hernandez when it looked the other way round.

Jawad El Yamiq also hit the post with a glorious overhead kick, so France are hardly invincible having conceded in their first five matches and they have doubts over defender Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot who both missed the semi-final with illness.

Argentina have hardly been perfect either, starting the World Cup with one of the biggest shocks of all time – a 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia despite dominating a first half in which they had three goals ruled out for offside.

That said, they have looked a different team with Julian Alvarez taking over from Lautaro Martinez as the main striker alongside Messi and is almost certain to start on Sunday as will left-back Marcos Acuna, who returns from suspension.

Messi has opened the scoring in four of his six matches in Qatar and is 7/2 to make it a fifth or 17/10 to find the net. Only Poland have kept the little maestro at bay so it’s hard to argue against him failing to score in what could be his final World Cup appearance.

However, we prefer the 5/2 on Alvarez in the anytime market. The Manchester City forward has scored four goals in as many games and can benefit from his partnership with the evergreen Messi.

Golden Boot rivals Mbappe and Giroud are 4/1 and 11/2 to break the deadlock or 2/1 and 12/5 to get on the scoresheet.

Match Info

Where: Lusail Stadium, Lusail

When: 15:00, Sunday 18th December

How to watch: BBC/ITV

View the latest football odds

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication