England forward Marcus Rashford has reached out to his France counterpart Kylian Mbappe to wish him good luck after the Three Lions were dumped out of the World Cup by Les Bleus.
Rashford and England saw their campaign in Qatar come to a close on Saturday evening following their a 2-1 defeat to the defending champions at the quarter-final stage.
Aurelien Tchouameni gave France the lead with a fine goal before Harry Kane levelled with a penalty. Olivier Giroud had gone to head what proved to be the winner after Kane missed his second crucial late penalty that would have helped England level the contest for the second time. Rashford came off the bench with 85 minutes on the clock but was unable to drag his side back into the game.
‘The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions, each and every one of our team gave everything we had to be ready for what was thrown at us, we got close, but not close enough,’ Rashford wrote on Instagram following England’s elimination.
‘I’ll make a promise that we will come again! Thank you for the unconditional support we have received throughout the tournament, it hasn’t gone unnoticed.’
Rashford’s words were applauded by names across the game, from current and former teammates to former strikers in Ian Wright and Patrick Kluivert.
Mbappe also responded to Rashford’s post with a heart emoji, with the Manchester United star commenting: ‘Good luck with the rest of the tournament brother! Go smash it king’.
Mbappe is the World Cup’s top scorer with five goals in five appearances with Les Blues taking on Morocco in their semi-final clash this week.
Rashford has been linked with a move to join Mbappe at Paris Saint-Germain, with the French champions exploring the possibility of signing him on a free transfer.