Martinez and Varane to meet in the World Cup final

The match will bring an end to the month-long tournament which has produced many entertaining matches, outstanding performances and some huge upsets.

But there is nothing surprising about the two sides who lock horns in this match, with Martinez’s Argentina tipped among the favourites before the competition began, and Varane’s France having won the 2018 iteration of the tournament.

There’s added impetus for each of our Reds too, as this will be Lisandro’s maiden World Cup final.

Varane, on the other hand, is part of a side who are vying to become the first to retain the trophy since Brazil in 1962.

Martinez has played in four of the six Albiceleste games so far, starting two with his role depending on the shape deployed by manager Lionel Scaloni.

He started the quarter-final win over the Netherlands, but came on in the second half of the semi-final versus Croatia, always producing those same passionate performances we’ve come to love him for at United.

Of course, let’s not forget the match-winning block he made in the last-16 tie against Australia; truly brilliant!

The task of keeping Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe will be a tricky one for Licha, though, with all three purring at the moment for Didier Deschamps’s side.

Varane has been similarly impressive for Les Bleus. Having missed the first group match against Australia following the injury he picked up at Chelsea in October, Rapha looks to be back to his best.

Always assured in and out of possession, Varane has been a mainstay of Deschamps’s defence since coming back into the starting line-up for the second group match.

Varane lifted the trophy in 2018, and to do it again on Sunday, he must overcome the magical Lionel Messi.

The 35-year-old has put in a string of stellar showings in Qatar, and seems to be getting better with every match.

In the semi-final, he gave highly rated RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol the run-around, and will be looking to do the same with the France defence this weekend.

Varane will have to be at his best to keep Argentina’s no.10 quiet, and he will no doubt be delving into his previous experience of playing against Messi from his time with Real Madrid.

Both Licha and Rapha have done superbly to get to this stage of the tournament, but which Red will come out on top?

Find out when the action gets under way at 15:00 GMT on Sunday.