England defender warns of exaggerated respect for Mbappe.. knows how to stop him
England's right-back Kyle Walker confirmed that his country's national team should "not respect too much" French star Kylian Mbappe, before the upcoming exciting confrontation between the two teams, Saturday, in the quarter-finals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Walker is expected to start, and a fiery duel with Mbappe will be the tournament's top scorer so far, with five goals.
Manchester City defender said Wednesday during a press conference, "He is an amazing player and in a distinguished form, so the task will not be easy. But we want to always play against the best and he is among them, if not the best at the moment."
"I understand there is focus (on this bilateral confrontation) and I know what I have to do, to stop it. But it is easier said than done."
The two players previously faced each other in the first leg of the 2021 Champions League semi-finals, when City won 2-1 in the stronghold of Paris Saint-Germain, knowing that Mbappe did not participate in the second leg during the English team’s 2-0 victory.
Walker confirmed, "When we faced Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, we did not only think of Mbappe, I do not underestimate myself. I played against him and many other distinguished players, with England, Manchester City or Tottenham."
And he added, "I must deal with the matter as it is the solution in all matches, to respect him as he deserves, but not to respect him too much (...) The match is not England against Mbappe, but England against France."
He stressed, "We do not only think of Mbappe. He is a weapon in their arsenal and he is very good, but they have other very good players that we cannot underestimate, who have won major titles and the World Cup (...) Let's not forget (Olivier) Giroud who scored a lot of goals." Goals, (Osmane) Dembele is also distinguished at the other end.
England reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia when it fell against Croatia, while it reached the final of the European Cup last summer when it lost against Italy.
Qatar hopes to achieve its second title in the World Cup after 1966 on home soil.
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kylian mbappe,
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