World Cup: Road to the final

France play Croatia in the World Cup final at Moscow ’s Luzhniki Stadium on

Sunday . Here is each team ’ s path to the showpiece match.

France

Group stage

France had a helping hand from the video assistant referee (VAR ) in their World

Cup opener and a dash of good fortune when Paul Pogba ’ s effort deflected off

Australia ’ s Aziz Behich and into the net to seal a 2 - 1 win . A low - key 1- 0 victory

against Peru put them in a prime position to qualify and a 0 - 0 draw against

Denmark ensured they topped their group .

Last 16

A 4- 3 win against Lionel Messi ’ s

Argentina was one of the

standout matches of the

tournament. Goals from Angel

Di Maria and Gabriel Mercado

cancelled out an early Antoine

Griezmann penalty before

Benjamin Pavard struck a

wonderful equaliser and

teenager Kylian Mbappe scored

twice. A late Sergio Aguero goal

was not enough to save

Argentina .

Quarter- final

France had far too much quality for a Uruguay side missing in - form forward

Edinson Cavani , winning 2- 0. Defender Raphael Varane headed France ahead

towards the end of the first half and Griezmann scored thanks to a terrible error

by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera .

Semi - final

France knew they had a tough job on their hands to contain a Belgium side

boasting Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku but for the second

consecutive match they kept a clean sheet . Samuel Umtiti scored the winner in the

second half from Griezmann ’ s corner to take the team through to their third

World Cup final as 1- 0 winners .

Croatia

Group stage

Croatia were one of only three teams in Russia to win all three of their group

matches , beating Nigeria 2- 0 in their opener and Iceland 2- 1 in their final game .

But their standout performance came in their second match, when they swept

aside two - time winners Argentina 3- 0 to make a huge statement of intent.

Last 16

Goalkeeper Danijel Subasic was the hero , saving three penalties in the shootout as

Croatia squeezed past Denmark. Earlier , they had conceded a goal in the opening

minute but hit back quickly to equalise through Mario Mandzukic . Luka Modric

missed a penalty shortly before the end of extra - time but Croatia survived .

Quarter- final

Croatia looked like they would have too much quality for a solid but limited Russia

side but were again taken to extra - time and penalties . Goals from Andrej Kramaric

and Domagoj Vida cancelled out a Denis Cheryshev opener but Croatia watched in

agony as Mario Fernandes snatched a late equaliser . Ivan Rakitic struck the

decisive penalty to send his side through to the semi - finals .

Semi - final

Croatia were again forced to dig deep against England . Zlatko Dalic ’ s side looked in

deep trouble after conceding a early goal in Moscow but regrouped to equalise

midway through the second half . Despite dominating the second period they were

unable to force a winner until deep into extra - time, when Mandzukic struck to

break English hearts and win the match 2 - 1