Paul Pogba marked the crowning moment of his professional career with a trademark dab, dance and social media post.
All his critics and detractors fell silent on a night where the Manchester United midfielder was soaking in every moment of becoming a World Cup winner.
It is a stage and honour that many pundits have outlined as a key milestone for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to achieve in their quest to be remembered as the single greatest footballer to grace the game.
Ronaldo will be 37 by the time the next edition rolls around while Messi - if he's still playing international football - will turn 35 during the next tournament.
Pogba is unlikely to ever be mentioned in the same breath as Ronaldo and Messi but he has a real potential to claim one if not two more World Cups before he calls it a day.
MERCI à tous, Dieu est grand thank you everyone, God is great @equipedefrance #fiersdetrebleus #heretocreate
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.#WorldCup2018#WorldCup pic.twitter.com/DdoYfqC8Av— Paul Pogba (@paulpogba) July 15, 2018
The 25-year-old added to his increasing honours list, which includes four Serie A titles with Juventus and a Europa League triumph with Manchester United, among others.
And John Duggan, our man in Russia for the duration of the tournament, hailed Pogba for producing on the biggest stage when others failed to fire.
"He was already in my team of the tournament when I put it up on Twitter a couple of days ago," Duggan told OTB AM.
"It has changed but I really do believe that the final is when you really need to perform because the final is when the pressure is on the most.
"I could see tears from Ivan Rakitic before the game and I could see Antoine Griezmann take a breath. And the final for me is when you have to deliver if you want to be in a team of the tournament or to be seen as a great player.
"N'Golo Kante is now off my team because of his performance yesterday and so is Hugo Lloris because he could have cost France a World Cup if the circumstances had been different."
Ronaldo's stake to be remembered as the greatest player to ever live was significantly helped by his European Championship success with Portugal in Euro 2016.
Lionel Messi, however, has yet to taste international success having had to settle for second best in both Copa America and World Cup finals.
Il manquais que ça had to dab @equipedefrance #fiersdetrebleus #WorldCup2018
A post shared by Paul Labile Pogba (@paulpogba) on
And emphasising the sheer magnitude of both Pogba and France's achievement, Duggan highlighted France boss, Didier Deschamps' words after Les Bleus were crowned world champions.
"Deschamps said two things after the game in his press conference: 'you as a 23-man squad will have this binded with you forever' and 'whatever you do in your career and whatever success you achieve - you will never top winning a World Cup final'.
"He also told the press that the Argentina game was the key moment in their World Cup and that the group stage is more difficult than the knockout stage.
"He also said that the trigger for them winning the tournament was that game against Argentina because as they are a big nation - that was a big moment."
James Hopper
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