Mbappé now plays in the big leagues.
Author of a hat-trick to humiliate Lionel Messi's FC Barcelona in his own garden, the young prodigy dazzled the European press, which sang his praises on Wednesday, February 17.
Before Kylian Mbappé, only one footballer had managed to score three goals in the same match at Camp Nou: the Ukrainian Andriy Chevtchenko in 1997. Seven years later, the latter won the Golden Ball.
The fate of "Kyky" now seems all mapped out, he who propelled his team to the gates of the quarter-finals of the Champions League - except huge odd in the second leg.
If the "remount" suffered by PSG in 2017 was in everyone's mind before this trip, Mbappé's XXL performance should now erase this Parisian trauma.
Modest at the microphone
A precocious talent, revealed at 17 on the European scene with Monaco, Mbappé reached a new level on Tuesday in his progression.
"Great players build their history and their careers with matches like this," said his coach, Mauricio Pochettino.
After the meeting, there was only "Kyky" to minimize the impact of his performance: "It's magnificent, but we did not win anything", he explained to the microphone of the broadcaster RMC Sport.
Here is the front page of L'Équipe from Wednesday, February 17.
The newspaper> https://t.co/PiyFGp4lPf pic.twitter.com/TokZUprkrH
- THE TEAM (@lequipe) February 16, 2021
His calm tone contrasts with the laudatory headlines in the press on Wednesday morning, celebrating "his greatest European performance in the Parisian jersey" (L'Équipe).
"The messiah is Mbappé"
"Mbappé destroys Barça", headlines Marca, the best-selling newspaper in Spain, when its competitor As evokes "hurricane Mbappé".
#LaPortada Mbappé will return to al Barça 🗞 pic.twitter.com/CcFDZdbSpe
- MARCA (@marca) February 16, 2021
🗞️ Esta es nuestra #PortadAS de hoy, miércoles 17 de
febrero 📰 Huracán Mbappé pic.twitter.com/Vfux1Ehupz
- Diario AS (@diarioas) February 16, 2021
In the absence of Neymar, injured, "the messiah is Mbappé", writes Le Parisien, which evokes "an air of transfer of powers" between the Argentine and the French.
The earthquake caused at Camp Nou shook the foundations of world football: behind Messi (33) and Cristiano Ronaldo (36), eleven Golden Balls between them, a new candidate for their succession has redefined the landscape.
"I believe that Paris SG has a future very big star, who will be at the level of Leo (Messi) or Cristiano (Ronaldo), so we must take advantage of it every day," admitted his opponent Antoine Griezmann, at the microphone by RMC Sport.
'Mbappuleo'
en nuestra portada de este miércoles #portada #deporte https://t.co/8cQBmd8XwE pic.twitter.com/hyNrtoPLID
- Mundo Deportivo (@mundodeportivo) February 16, 2021
"He's the guy who's going to take the throne from them when they're done," said former England international Rio Ferdinand, consultant for British channel BT Sport.
"If it is not a passing of the baton, we are not far from it. (...) Mbappé punched the table of the succession to Messi and Ronaldo, Neymar is warned", writes La Gazzetta dello Sport.
For TuttoSport, even Messi "stayed to watch the new star".
# Mbappé da leggenda: reed #Messi sta a guardare la nuova stella ⬇️ https://t.co/TkZkyylpwr
- Tuttosport (@tuttosport) February 16, 2021
The image of the Argentinian defeated in front of the prowess of the French is not new: it recalls the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup won by the Blues against the Albiceleste (4-3).
Then aged 19 years and six months, Mbappé had become the youngest player to score a brace in a World Cup, ahead of Pelé in 1958.
World champion in the wake, the native of Bondy has however seen his stellar trajectory collide with the glass ceiling of the C1 over the past three years, like his too soft shot in the final lost to Bayern in August. last in Lisbon (1-0).
"I have not always been successful, I may still miss games, but never in life will I hide, even if we make mistakes in life," said "Kyky".
Europe is waiting for its next coup.
The player is currently negotiating with PSG to extend his contract expiring in 2022. If Neymar calls out to him to stay in the capital, the Frenchman is giving himself time to "think".
"It's that it's a reflection on the long term, not on a game or two," he dodged Tuesday.
Candidate to welcome him next summer, Real Madrid must have appreciated his performance on the ground of the hated rival.
For now, Kylian Mbappé is keeping his eyes on the Champions League, which Messi had already won at his age, but not Ronaldo, who won his first at 23.
And her one of the largest napkin rings seem already reserved.
With AFP
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