William Saliba is adamant France are not favourites to win the World Cup despite beating Senegal 3-1 in their opening match in Group I.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice, either side of a deft Bradley Barcola chip, as Les Bleus made a winning start to the campaign, where they will bid to reach a third consecutive final.
All their goals came in the second half, though, after a laboured first-half performance where things didn’t quite click.
As such, Saliba was keen to play down France’s chances of success this summer.
“No, we are not favourites,” the Arsenal star declared. “There are a lot of teams who can win this tournament. We have a good chance but if we want to win we have to beat everyone.”
Mbappe rather stole the show, scoring two superb second-half goals after an ineffectual first 45 minutes.
Those goals saw him overtake Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time top goalscorer and move within three goals of becoming the most prolific striker in World Cup history. That honour currently belongs to Miroslav Klose.
Saliba knows Mbappe will be key to France’s success this summer. He continued: “I think he has everything to beat the record. I hope he is going to do it in this tournament. For sure, he has everything and I am sure he will do it.”
Of Mbappe’s late screamer, which came seconds after Ibrahim Mbaye pulled one back for Senegal, he added: “It was crazy from where I was, because we had just conceded the first goal, and one minute after, we score a banger so I was happy.”
