France's Pavard reveals what was going through his head for Argentina wondergoal

Having scored one of the goals of the tournament so far at the World Cup, France right-back Benjamin Pavard has revealed what was going through his mind as he fired home in style against Argentina.

With Angel Di Maria having cancelled out Antoine Griezmann's penalty with a stunning strike of his own, Gabriel Mercado then turned in Lionel Messi's angled shot to leave Les Bleus trailing 2-1.

It took only nine minutes for the second equaliser of the game to come, however, with fellow full-back Theo Hernandez cutting the ball back, playing it straight into the path of an onrushing Pavard.

What followed will be remembered as a classic World Cup goal - and what brought a relative unknown's name to the forefront - as the 22-year-old Stuttgart man fired an outside-of-the-foot rocket curling around Franco Armani to make it 2-2.

Speaking to FIFA after the match, the former Lille youth revealed what went through his head at the time of his massively memorable first goal for his country.

“The ball bounced up as it came to me. I didn’t even think about it,” he began.

“I just tried to get over it and keep it down. I was trying to hit it in the direction it came from, which is what the strikers always tell me. 

“I didn’t think it over, and when it went in I just felt so happy.

“In German, we say 'Tor'. To hit a shot like that – I can’t describe it. I’m still feeling emotional!”

Despite being a reliable performer, Pavard has only two goals to his name for Stuttgart and conceded that he wasn't sure what to do when it came to celebrating his wonder-strike.

“My first instinct was just to run to the dugout,” he said.

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“For me it’s the team that wins, the 23 players and the coaching staff too. I slid on my knees and everyone came up to me. I’m not used to scoring, so I don’t have any special goal celebration.”

He did, however, borrow the celebration of the man he was marking, Di Maria, and admitted that the "heart" was for his other half.

“It was for my girlfriend, who was in the stands,” he said

“I called my parents after the match too, because if they hadn’t done all those kilometres for me I wouldn’t be here today. They were the ones who taught me positive determination, to give it my all, especially my father.”

“They’ve been supporting me for a long time and this goal is a reward for them too.”