The PSG star will face an Argentina side led by none other than Lionel Messi, and France will hope that Mbappe's presence will be enough to help see them over the line.

On Sunday, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will come to its conclusion, with reigning champions France facing 2021 Copa America winners Argentina in a highly-anticipated match.

Already, many have described this as an intriguing "battle" between two PSG stars: Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi, who shocked everyone by leaving Barcelona for Les Parisiens in the summer of 2021.

The two players are at opposite ends of their respective careers. Mbappe, who is just 23, has many years ahead of him but has already made waves at such a young age. Messi, meanwhile, who is 35, is looking forward to winding down a successful journey that has seen him win an unprecedented number of personal and team accolades.

Fans of both France and Argentina, as well as quite a few neutrals, will be looking forward to seeing which star player will be able to inspire his side to glory this Sunday. On paper, it's hard to figure out who the concrete favorites are as both teams have quite a lot of strong players at their respective disposals.

However, one interesting stat just may appear to tip the match slightly in France's favor. This will be the second consecutive meeting between France and Argentina, and interestingly, the third time Mbappe faces off against Messi (club ties included).

To date, Mbappe has never lost to Messi - that is, has never been on a team that lost to a side Messi was part of. The most recent meeting between the two players was at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when Les Bleus beat La Albiceleste 4-3 in the round of 16. Mbappe scored two goals during that match, which made him only the second teenager after Pele did so in 1958 to achieve that feat.

Less than three years later, the two would face off once again, in February 2021. This time, the venue was the 2020/2021 UEFA Champions League, and again, it was during a knockout tie.

Despite Messi opening the scoring from the spot, PSG quickly regained control, with Mbappe netting a hat-trick at the Camp Nou to silence Barcelona's supporters and ensure that Les Parisiens had one foot firmly into the quarter-finals.

The return leg, which took place in March saw both Messi and Mbappe score, but thanks to having netted four in the prior meeting, PSG won that tie 5-2 on aggregate - with Mbappe scoring four of his team's goals.

That means to date, Mbappe has scored six times against Messi's teams, while winning two and drawing one of their past three meetings while seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi has scored twice, and has yet to win against a team that Mbappe is part of.

As such, some may argue that Mbappe is a sort of "good luck" charm for his teams, but it will be very interesting to see if that good trend continues on Sunday, or if Messi is able to overcome his "Mbappe hoodoo" and inspire Argentina to their first World Cup victory in nearly four decades.

Make sure you bookmark our bespoke World Cup match page for news and broadcast info for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup final featuring Argentina and France.