22 facts about the best young striker in the world: Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe gave his calling card back to FC Barcelona as one of the best forwards in the world. The 22-year-old Frenchman scored a hat-trick in Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-4 victory over FC Barcelona.

At times Gerard Pique and Serginho Dest will wake up in sweat with a dream about the UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday 16 February. Mbappe quickly overtook them with a fighter jet, then played them color-blind with his artistic abilities. The story of the French striker in 22 steps.

His childhood

1. Mbappe, born in the Paris suburb of Bondi, quickly gained fame. He is indeed the most important person who grew up in the suburbs. There is a sign on the town hall that says, “Thank you Killian, the people of Bondi are with you.”

2. Sports is the drive of the family in which Mbappe grew up. Father Wilfred played for a long time in the first team of AS Bondy and mother Faiza El Ammari a successful handball player and for years played in the Dutch women’s handball league. Mbappe’s adoptive brother, Gerees Kempo Icoco, takes charge of the French football institute in Clairefontaine and makes his debut at Stade Rennes in 2006, playing in the first for six years before moving to the sandbox.

3. Although Mbappe says he plays for many soccer players when he grows up, there was someone whose room was full of posters: Cristiano Ronaldo. His room will change its appearance in 2019. Every corner is no longer filled with pictures of Ronaldo, but of him. With two French titles and a World Cup, he can’t be blamed.

4. In December 2015, Mbappe was introduced to the general public. He made his debut against Caen as a substitute for Fábio Coentrão. At 16 years and 347 days old, he is the youngest player to ever play in the first Championship for Monaco. He holds the record from Thierry Henry, whose record was in the history books for 21 years.

5. It was already two months later when Mbappe got another record from Henry. With a goal in the league match against Troyes, he is Monaco’s youngest goalscorer ever. Age: 17 years and 62 days.

Transportation problems

6. Arsene Wenger nearly brought several big players to Arsenal, only to see him become world champions at other clubs. Some simple examples: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Yaya Toure and Cristiano Ronaldo. In 2017, after a conversation with Mbappe, the French coach had an idea that he would not add this striker to that list. Unfortunately for Wenger, he will get there. Mbappe is not yet ready to leave his family alone in France.

7. So Arsenal is not the first club in London to have grabbed Mbappe. In 2012, the young Frenchman was invited to train at Chelsea. The scouts are immediately excited and want to capture the young striker. It didn’t go that far because Mbappe’s mother was against the move. “Whether they do it or change it in five years for 50 million euros,” she says. The only thing I miscalculated is that Mbappe is already equal to four times after five years.

8. After Paris Saint-Germain initially appointed Mbappe for a year and then transferred € 180 million to Monaco, the club immediately made him the most expensive French player ever. The only player to attract more money is Neymar, and also by the Paris team. 222 million euros are being deposited in his favor.

Perfect with Paris Saint-Germain

9. With three goals at Camp Nou, Mbappe surpassed club legend Polita in all-time goalscoring charts at Paris Saint-Germain. The striker now stands at 111 goals in 153 matches for the club. The only ones still above Mbappe are Zlatan Ibrahimovic (156 goals in 180 matches) and Edison Cavani (200 goals in 301 games).

10. Mbappe scored 24 goals in the Champions League. No fewer than players such as Figo, Gonzalo Higuain and Paul Scholes. He still has a way to beat Cristiano Ronaldo (134 goals) and Lionel Messi (119). Incidentally, Tuesday’s match was only the second time Mbappe and Messi had faced each other. The other match was France’s 4-3 victory over Argentina in the 2018 World Cup, when he scored two goals.

11. Mbappe’s hat-trick against Barcelona was only the third that the Catalan club faced in the Champions League. Only Faustino Asprilla in Newcastle and Andrei Shevchenko in Dynamo Kiev preceded him in 1997.

12. Mbappe is the second player to score two or more goals against Barcelona in the knockout phase of the tournament. The former was Ferenc Puskas in the 1949-1950 season.

13. Thanks to his hat-trick, Mbappe represents nearly three percent (2.9) of all the goals Barcelona conceded in the Champions League at Camp Nou.

14. Mbappe scored a large percentage of goals in away matches in the Champions League. Of all the players who have scored more than 20 goals in the Champions League, the French is the one who has scored the most goals outside the home on average. He achieved 68 percent of his goals in duels. Which means: 15 goals in Paris or Monaco and 22 goals elsewhere.

15. Erling Braut Haaland is the youngest player to score 10 and 15 goals in the Champions League, but the youngest player to score 20 goals in the UEFA Champions League is still Mbappe at 21 years and 355 days old. He thus relieved Messi, who was 22 years and 267 days old, when he scored 20 goals in the Champions League.

Formidable for France

16. Mbappe became the first teenager in 2018 to score more than once in a World Cup since Michael Owen in 1998. By the way, Mbappe was not born even when Owen scored in France against Romania and Argentina.

17. Mbappe’s goal against Argentina in the eighth World Cup Finals made the Frenchman the second youngest player ever to score two goals in a World Cup match. Mbappe was 19 years and 207 days old. Pele was 17 years and 251 days old when he did this to Brazil

18. Mbappe won the World Cup on his first appearance, but decided to donate his full profits to charity. Premiers de Cordée, an organization that works to get all French children to play sports, said it received a donation of half a million Mbappe after the World Cup in Russia.

Off the field

19. At the age of 21, Mbappe was featured on the cover of FIFA 21 around the world, making him the youngest player to appear on the world cover of the popular console game. Jack Wilshere was 19 years old when he was on the cover of the UK edition, and other editions featured Wayne Rooney.

20. Mbappe is really addicted to shoes and sneakers. He said, “I still feel happy as a child when I have a new husband.” His first sneaker was the Nike Air Maxes.

21. With 47.2 million followers on Instagram, Mbappé is on its way to gaining the largest number of followers on social media, in part through collaborations with Nike and Air Jordan. Neymar (146.7 million), Messi (184 million) and Ronaldo (263 million) still have more followers.

22. Maybe take it with a pill, but still. According to several researchers, Mbappe is faster than Osian Bolt. Mbappe scored 37.99 kilometers per hour during a Ligue 1 match. Bolt ran 37.57 kilometers per hour in his fastest time during the world record-breaking 100 meters in which he was beaten.