PLAYERS TO WATCH
Cristiano Ronaldo
Country: Portugal Age: 33. Internationals: 150 After winning his fifth UEFA
Champions League with Real
Madrid, Ronaldo will want to add the World Cup to his trophy collection. He carried Portugal to a first major title two years ago when they won the European Championships.
Lionel Messi
Country: Argentina Age: 30. Internationals: 124 Messi announced his retirement after Argentina lost to Chile on penalties in the 2016 Copa
America final. He was persuaded to return with Argentina President Mauricio Macri leading the calls for Messi to have a rethink. Like Ronaldo, the only thing missing on Messi’s resume is a World Cup winners’ medal.
Kylian Mbappe
Country: France Age: 19. Internationals: 15 Mbappe came to prominence in
Monaco’s Ligue 1 success in
2016-17 before joining Paris St
Germain. Has scored 47 goals in
88 games at club level during the last two seasons but is still finding his feet at international level.
Gabriel Jesus
Country: Brazil Age: 21. Internationals: 17 Jesus was Brazil's highest scorer in the World Cup qualifiers with seven goals in 10 matches. He also played a starring role for Manchester City, scoring 13 goals as Pep Guardiola’s men raced to the English Premier League title. Should form a powerful attacking unit for Brazil alongside Neymar and Philippe Coutinho.
Kevin De Bruyne
Country: Belgium Age: 26. Internationals: 62 Ranked by The Guardian as the fourth best player in the world in 2017, de
Bruyne is one of the stars in a star-studded Belgium team. Was one of the key figures in Manchester
City’s runaway English Premier League success and will want to carry that on to the world stage as the Belgians, under coach Roberto Martinez, try to turn their potential into a major title.
Isco
Country: Spain Age: 26. Internationals: 26 The Real Madrid star is often called one of the best attacking midfielders in the world and played a big role as
Madrid defeated Liverpool in the
UEFA Champions League final. In March, he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 friendly win over Argentina.