Report … Mbappé before his “muse” Ronaldo

For the first time in his career, the young Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, star of Paris Saint-Germain, faces his Portuguese veteran, Cristiano Ronaldo, the protagonist of Italian Juventus, in an international match, wearing the shirts of his two countries, after two clashes at club level, in which Ronaldo beat his former team, Real Madrid.

The Stade de France, in the French capital, Paris, will host the landlord’s confrontation with the Portuguese team, at 9:15 p.m. today, Sunday, at the top of Group Three of the first category of the European League of Nations, which includes Sweden and Croatia alongside them.

Reigning champion Portugal leads the group with six points, ahead of the world champions, who also won the first round matches of the continental championship in the first and second rounds.

But despite the importance of the match, all eyes are on an exceptional one-on-one match, especially after Mbappé grew in the knowledge of the entire world about his influence from Cristiano Ronaldo, who was his inspiration in his youth and his role model in the world of soccer.

The photos of Mbappé became famous at the age of 13, surrounded by images of Ronaldo that filled the walls of his bedroom, when he was taking his first steps in the world of football, and also confirmed the extent of his influence with the star Portuguese in an interview with the Spanish newspaper “Marca”, when he claimed that Ronaldo was his childhood hero. And he does not forget the moment of their meeting when he visited the Real Madrid training headquarters as a young man.

Mbappé showed a lot of humility, as well as a professional mindset, when asked about his favorite star between Ronaldo and Argentine Lionel Messi, the star of the Barça team, and asked him to choose one of them to support his team, as he replied without hesitation: “I will choose to sit on the bench, so that the two of them play for the team. This will increase our chances of winning.”

Mbappé showed the same intelligence in an interview with the Italian newspaper “La Gazzetta del Lausport” earlier this year, when asked about his most important inspiration between Ronaldo and Messi at the football career level. He confirmed that it was too late to repeat Messi’s career, because the Argentine star played his entire career in a team jersey. Unlike Ronaldo, who is the most prominent example of the French star.

“To repeat Messi’s career, I should have stayed in the ranks of Monaco, so, logically, my role model should be Ronaldo,” Mbappé said in his comments to the Italian newspaper.

Mbappé, who is 21 years old, began his professional career with the Monaco shirt in 2015, as the youngest player in the team’s history, and played on loan for Paris Saint-Germain in the 2017-2018 season, before moving permanently after the end of the season, for 145 million euros, in addition to 35 million euros. As additional incentives included in the contract.

While Ronaldo, 35, started his professional career with Portuguese team Sporting de Lisboa in 2002, and moved to Manchester United the following year, before moving to Real Madrid in 2009, then settling at Juventus after nine years.

Mbappé appears very close to his second signing, since the player is highly desired at Real Madrid, to become the protagonist of the next era after the departure of Ronaldo, which until now no one has managed to compensate, despite the contract of the Spanish capital with Belgian Eden Hazar from Chelsea, as the player hinted. On several occasions he himself was about to leave the ranks of Paris Saint-Germain.

Although Ronaldo affected him a lot, Mbappé also confirmed that he is a professional player, and that the stage of his admiration for the Portuguese star does not go beyond the borders of the stadium, as he stressed before Real Madrid’s confrontation with Paris Saint-Germain in the knockout stages of the 2018 Champions League that would go to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital to conquer Ronaldo and his team.

But that showdown was completely in Ronaldo’s favor, as Real Madrid won back and forth with three goals against one and two goals against one, and Ronaldo scored three goals during the two meetings, and also scored one goal.

Didier Deschamps, the coach of the French team, wanted to lift the pressure on his young star before the important showdown, and confirmed during the press conference on Saturday’s showdown that it is still too early to put Mbappé in comparison to Ronaldo.

The coach, who led his country to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, added: “Yes, Ronaldo is his inspiration, but I think Ronaldo was and continues to be an inspiration for many young players.”

Deschamps continued: “It is difficult to compare them. Ronaldo has been playing for many years at the highest levels, and they are a different age. I think the comparison will be better when Mbappe is the age he is now.”

Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or as the best player in the world five times, and also helped Real Madrid crown the European Champions League four times, and also led Manchester United to the same achievement once, while Mbappé he won the “Cuba” award from France Football magazine to the best young player in the world in 2018. And he helped Paris Saint-Germain reach the Champions League final for the first time in their history last season.