Luke Shaw has warned that England must not focus on Kylian Mbappe as the only threat when they meet France in the World Cup quarter-finals.
England take on France in quarter-finalsMbappe one of the key threats as top scorerShaw says there are others to be wary of
WHAT HAPPENED? Mbappe is the World Cup’s top scorer with five goals from four appearances and will hope to improve his record by firing in more against Shaw and England. However, the Manchester United full-back says the Three Lions would be “naive” to put all of their attention on the Paris Saint-Germain attacker given the overall strength in depth at Les Bleus’ disposal.
WHAT THEY SAID: “Obviously after his performance [against Poland in the last 16] there’s going to be even more chat about him but we know he’s a world-class player,” Shaw told reporters. “I think it would be very naive of us to focus purely on him. They’re reigning world champions for a reason and we need to focus on them as a whole team. They have brilliant players over the whole pitch so we’re not going to fully focus on him, but it’s an amazing tie to be involved in and that’s why we’re here.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: France saw star forward Karim Benzema ruled out of the competition just before it kicked off after he sustained an injury, but the 2018 World Cup winners have plenty more firepower in their ranks. As well as Mbappe, Olivier Giroud has scored three in Qatar to become his nation’s all-time top scorer, while Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele are also in the team.
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WHAT NEXT FOR ENGLAND? Shaw and his fellow Three Lions stars will take on France on Saturday to battle it out for a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup.