Peter Schmeichel has backed Kylian Mbappe to reach the level of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and become the next player to dominate global football the way that duo has.
The former Manchester United goalkeeper cited Mbappe’s performance at the World Cup, where he became the first teenager to score in a final since Pele.
But it was a display earlier in the tournament that caught Schmeichel’s eye, as Mbappe led France to victory over Messi’s Argentina in the Round of 16 on the same day Ronaldo’s Portugal also crashed out.
“I think it was very significant that on the same day Ronaldo and Messi left the tournament, I think Mbappe stepped up in the game against Argentina,” Schmeichel said.
“The way he played in that game. The run that led to the penalty. How easily he just brushed people off and the way he treated the ball.
“We always knew he was a great player but to be so young and do that in such an important game, it was like he stepped up onto the scene and said: ‘Listen I’m ready now.’
I think everyone will be keeping a very, very close eye to him to see how he performs.
He had a really good World Cup and I think he’s definitely one of the next to step into that space that Messi and Ronaldo will leave in five years or two years or whenever that is.”
Quotes taken from Peter Schmeichel’s interview with CNN.
