Few athletes, even at age 24, can match Kylian Mbappe’s accomplishments… Less than 48 hours after he created history by becoming the second player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, the Paris Saint-Germain striker recently turned 24.
The great Frenchman is tied for sixth all-time on the list with Brazilian legend Pele after scoring 12 goals in total throughout 14 World Cup games, giving Qatar the top scorer honor.
However, his finals performance was worthy of the trophy, but leaving Qatar without the World Cup trophy, which he won four years ago as a teenager in Russia, is undoubtedly heart-wrenching for the proven winner.
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Though his heroics were somewhat in vain in the grand scheme of things, the PSG man remains defiant and confident of making his mark again at the World Cup, leaving a simple message hours after the defeat, “We will return,” with the French flag.
“It’s a record World Cup. I would have preferred for him (Mbappe) to have scored, but there a lot of records have been made by players who were there,” France coach Didier Deschamps stated after the match.
“But Kylian put his footprint on this final, but not quite the footprint he wanted. His sadness at the end of the match is just like the rest of the players.”
Mbappe was born and raised in Bondy, a suburb of Paris 11 kilometres from the city centre. He spent two years playing for Monaco, where he caught global attention, but he has lived in the French capital his entire life.
Mbappe’s football numbers are astounding, to say the least. In 380 games, he has scored 265 goals and 135 assists. He has scored 36 goals for Les Bleus (he is sixth all-time), 190 goals for PSG and 27 for AS Monaco — compared to some of the greatest players at the same age, Lionel Messi (197), Cristiano Ronaldo (132), Karim Benzema, and Thierry Henry (89).
Mbappe, and his explosive football style, can change how the game is played forever. Blessed with pace, strength, and finishing abilities that would rival some of the greatest in history and an outstanding market value, the stage will undoubtedly belong to the Frenchman as Messi and Ronaldo’s era fade away.
At the age of 24, he was listed by Forbes as one of the highest-paid football players in the world, with an estimated $128 million in yearly earnings.
Mbappe’s trophy collection, which includes the World Cup, UEFA Nations League, five French league championships, and four Coup de la Ligue, is spectacular, but the 24-year-old still lacks personal honors.
Before Mbappe can compare to Ronaldo and Messi’s legacies, he still has a ways to go. The Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best are soon to come, but at his age, he has already accomplished things that those other superstars have yet to do.
