​After a convincing 2-0 loss to Spain in the men’s World Cup semifinals, there will be a lot of time to perform an autopsy on what happened to France. Some will say France just wasn’t sharp enough. Others might blame the officials. The most correct will be those who give Spain, the reigning European champion, credit for simply controlling the game from start to finish.But what is undeniable is Lamine Yamal’s staggering success in head-to-head matchups against Kylian Mbappé.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith Spain’s latest win over France in the books, teams that deploy Yamal are now 6-0 all time in knockout matches against those that deploy Mbappé. When factoring in non-knockout matches, Yamal is 9-2 against Mbappé. This success extends beyond international tournament matchups; it also includes matches between Barcelona (Yamal) and Real Madrid (Mbappé) in La Liga.Of course, it’s reductive to say that this is Yamal overcoming Mbappé by himself. Soccer is not an individual-versus-individual sport. It would be easier to argue that Yamal has usually played for the better overall team compared to Mbappé, which is why he has seen this sort of success.Nonetheless, this track record is eye-opening. You have to imagine that, on some level, Mbappé hates to see Yamal on the other side because he knows that his team has a greater shot of losing than usual.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe next likely matchup between these two stars will come on the weekend of October 24th between Yamal’s Barcelona and Mbappé’s Real Madrid. An exact date and time will be announced at a later date.This article originally appeared on For The Win: Lamine Yamal is Kylian Mbappé’s worst nightmare after France’s World Cup loss