Even in world politics, Kylian Mbappé is currently a popular topic. French President Emmanuel Macron received an unusual thank you during a state visit to the USA these days.
“Mr. President, thank you for keeping him in Paris,” Antony Blinken told him. The US Secretary of State, who spent a few years in France when he was young, said he was “with all pride” in supporting the United States at the World Cup in Qatar. But he enjoys “the magic of Kylian Mbappé”.
“L’Équipe”: “The world is at his feet”
The 23-year-old from Paris Saint-Germain sprayed that with two notable goals and an assist to the goal of the new French record goalscorer Giroud in the 3-1 round of 16 against Poland. And so coaches, teammates, fans and the media then outdid each other with superlatives. “From another galaxy” this striker must come, the “As” in Spain suspected. “What a monster…”, wrote “Le Monde”.
The sports daily “L’Equipe” headlined “God save notre King” (“God save our king”) in the printed edition with a view to the quarter-finals against England and wrote that Mbappé had now “risen into the category of giants” and “The world is at his feet”.
Numbers underpin these exaggerated-sounding theses. Mbappé is the first player to score nine World Cup goals before his 24th birthday, overtaking Brazil icon Pelé. After scoring World Cup goals, he now drew level with Lionel Messi, eleven years his senior, and past Cristiano Ronaldo, 13 years his senior. Both have already played three more finals.
Poland is impressed by Mbappe
The Poles even felt struck by something unearthly. “There’s no magic recipe to stop him,” said coach Czeslaw Michniewicz, who, after all, started in Qatar with reigning world footballer Robert Lewandowski on his team. And because striker Arkadiusz Milik said before the game that you need a scooter to catch up with the lightning-fast Mbappé, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita said: “We can’t fool nature. Matty Cash didn’t have a scooter and he was facing a freight train .”
When so many people are talking about him, he doesn’t have to say anything, thought the one who was so eagerly honored. Mbappé skipped the international press conference twice, even though being named player of the game would have required him to do so. The 10,000 euro fine for this is paid out of petty cash by what is probably the best-paid footballer in the world. On the Sunday after the third election, he appeared and apologized to the journalists. He wanted to focus on football. “When I do that, I function best.” His national coach Didier Deschamps jumped to his side: “He speaks with his feet and he speaks very well with them.” Is Mbappé currently the best footballer in the world? “Obviously he is,” said Deschamps.
Mbappe: “The only goal is the world title”
The next steps seem smoothed out for the new megastar, who celebrated his second goal with a jubilant homage to basketball star Stephen Curry: the World Cup title as the first successful defending champion since Brazil 60 years ago, the award as the best player in the World Cup, then the Ballon d’Or and the official award as World Player of the Year. If that’s the case, he’s happy to take it all with him, said Mbappé, “but my only goal is the world title. That’s why I’m here.”
But there are still a few hurdles in the way. “Bring us Mbappé,” tweeted ex-England international and TV pundit Michael Owen, although he too “there is no doubt who the best player in the world is right now”. And striker Álvaro Morata, from potential semi-final opponents Spain, said: “I’ll bike him the golden boot to France in exchange for Spain becoming world champions.”
Incidentally, Macron proved to be an absolute football expert in the USA. For the game against Poland, he guessed the right result and the right goalscorers Mbappé, Giroud and Lewandowski. But since football is also an issue on the world stage thanks to Mbappé, the President is always up to date.