On the buildings of Doha as on the lawns, we only see him: Kylian Mbappé illuminates the World Cup-2022 with his goals with the France team and his impressive statistics propel him to the front of the stage.
Before facing England on Saturday in the quarter-finals at the al-Bayt stadium in al-Khor, the star of the Blues is up to the lofty goals she has set for this World Cup, her ” obsession”, “the competition of [s]are dreams”, as the striker recalled after France-Poland.
With five goals in four matches (and three starts) in Qatar, the Paris SG striker carries the French world champions and acts as a No. 1 threat among opponents, to the point that the whole of England is worried about manners. to stop the phenomenon of 23 years.
The mad agitation took hold of the English tabloids: “Kylian Mbappé lives in Leicester”, title Thursday The Sun, which found in England a namesake of the French striker, aged 16 and supporter of the Three Lions.
In Doha, half of the questions at the press conference relate to the N.10 of the Blues, whether they are addressed to the English or the French, like Olivier Giroud or the assistant coach Guy Stéphan, who came to the press on Tuesday to draw up the praise of the Bondynois.
“He expressed it himself: he made the World Cup a peak of his season,” explained the technician. “It is certain that with Kylian, we have an exceptional player”.
Compared to Pele
And when “Kyky” favors indoor work over training on Tuesday, while his teammates appear on the field, the information spreads like wildfire in the English press which immediately evokes the hypothesis of a injury, quickly denied by the management of the Blues.
The Parisian resumed collective training on Wednesday, three days before the meeting.
For Qatar, owner of PSG, the Mbappé attraction is a golden opportunity to highlight the strong man of the French champion club, a few months after his sensational contract extension.
For the past few days, Mbappé’s name and portrait have been flourishing in the city, such as on the high “twin towers” of al-Jaber, in the Lusail district, north of the city.
Multiple LEDs, installed on these skyscrapers, draw the parallel between the French prodigy and “King” Pelé, hospitalized in Brazil, by comparing their statistics.
Like his Brazilian elder, Mbappé panics the counters with nine goals in eleven World Cup matches, spread over two editions. He remains on a series of 16 goals in his last 14 matches in the selection and he has just overtaken Zinédine Zidane with 33 goals in the blue jersey, an unprecedented figure at his age.
Before their 24th birthday – Mbappé will celebrate them on December 20 – neither Cristiano Ronaldo, nor Lionel Messi, nor Diego Maradona had as many selections or international goals. Only the Brazilian legend does better, with 43 goals in 42 selections.
The “best” to come?
“He’s obviously the best striker I’ve played with. I think we haven’t seen the best of Kylian yet, ”complimented Giroud, aware that his goalscoring record for the France team (52) will not last long against the young phenomenon.
“Mbappé is still only 40 or 50% of his potential,” PSG sporting director Luis Campos recently confirmed.
Remaining discreet in the media until his arrival at a press conference after France-Poland, Kylian Mbappé impresses in Qatar with the extent of his technical palette.
Against Australia (4-1), he scored with his head, his weak point. Against Denmark (2-1), he made the powder speak on the counter-attack, his specialty. And against the Poles (3-1), he made the difference with two cold-blooded strikes.
At the top of the scorer rankings at the World Cup (5), in the French league (12) and in the Champions League (7), Mbappé is necessarily already applying for the title of European Golden Boot (the best scorer of the season), but also for the Ballon d’Or, after five editions in the top 10.
“I came to win the World Cup, not to win the ‘Golden Ball’ or the ‘Golden Boot’,” retorted the Frenchman. He has three matches left to win to join his illustrious elder in history: Pelé’s Brazil is the last nation to have won two World Cups in a row, in 1958 and 1962.