KYLIAN Mbappe can become the youngest player to win two World Cups since Pele achieved the feat at the age of 21.
Mbappe, who turns 24 two days after the final, is the joint leading scorer with five goals at this World Cup and the face of football’s new generation.
The last World Cup for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the tournament in Qatar surely marks the passing of the baton from the two players who have dominated the sport for nearly two decades.
France may not have set the world alight en route to the final, but they have been masters of the key moments – demonstrating a ruthlessness and killer instinct when it matters most.
Much of that stems from Mbappe, the most feared player on the planet, whose goals have helped carry France to within one win of becoming the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.
Mbappe announced himself on the global stage in 2018 with a brace against Argentina in last 16 in Russia, where he won the best young player award.
Aged 19, he became the youngest player to score in a World Cup final since a 17-year-old Pele in 1958, and Mbappe already has more World Cup goals than Portugal’s Ronaldo or Diego Maradona.
He bagged four goals in total in the 2018 edition – his first major tournament – drilling home France’s fourth in the 4-2 win over Croatia in the final.
Only Just Fontaine, who scored an incredible 13 times at the 1958 tournament in Sweden, has more World Cup goals for France.
Mbappe has scored 250 times in 362 games for club and country, a tally that far exceeds those of Messi and Ronaldo at the same age.
But personal accolades are not the motivation for Mbappe with Les Bleus.
“The only objective for me is to win the World Cup,” he said.
“That is what I am dreaming of. I didn’t come here to win the Golden Ball. That is not why I am here. I am here to win and help the French national team.
“This World Cup is an obsession for me, it’s the competition of my dreams.” — AFP
