Arsenal star Bukayo Saka showed his class by scoring a stunning hat-trick against France in the third-place playoff at the World Cup.
Everyone hates the game to decide who finishes third, but FIFA have no interest in scrapping this fixture, so teams have to take part.
England went into the game as the underdogs, but they thrashed Les Bleus 6-4. The star of the show was Saka with his three goals, the third of which was an excellent penalty.
Just before that, Jude Bellingham showed his class.
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Jude Bellingham’s message to Bukayo Saka before his penalty was pure class
Bukayo Saka has had a very difficult 18 months.
The Arsenal and England star has had multiple injury issues to deal with, and he was nowhere near fully fit at the start of the World Cup either.
That is why Thomas Tuchel was very careful with how he managed Saka – he didn’t play a minute against Argentina in the semi-final.
Against France, however, Saka started, and he showed everyone why he is one of the best players in world football.
The Arsenal academy graduate scored two great goals in the first half, and he completed his hat-trick with a penalty after the break.
Bellingham showed real class by handing the ball over to the Arsenal man.
Speaking about it after the game, Saka told the BBC: “‘No, Jude was never taking it. To be fair, he was the first one to say ‘go and get your hat-trick’.
“He was just holding the ball so none of them would come to distract me. I was always going to take it.”
Bukayo Saka exposed Thomas Tuchel’s mistake during England vs France
Seeing Saka stay as an unused substitute during England’s defeat to Argentina was a real shock.
The Arsenal star has been one of the Three Lions’ best players over the years, and even if he is not fully fit, he offers much more than the rest.
Saka’s stunning hat-trick against France showed that Tuchel’s decision to keep him on the bench against Argentina was a terrible mistake.
One can only wonder how different the result would’ve been in the semi-finals had Saka started on the right wing.
Perhaps England would’ve been in the World Cup final now.
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