Teen sensation can shake up world order

Just as Ronaldo and Messi begin to fade, here comes Mbappe

‘Mbappe is a different level of explosive — and he can finish’

UNTIL this week, the most imitated move of the World Cup was the one of Neymar rolling. It was an internet sensation, a playground sensation. And then on Tuesday night, in the match between France and Belgium, something marvellous happened.

Blaise Matuidi played the ball inside to Kylian Mbappe on the edge of the area.

With four Belgium players around him, he controlled the ball deftly with the bottom of his right boot, shifted it effortlessly towards his left, and backheeled it through the crowd into the path of Olivier Giroud. And, suddenly, Neymar did not matter anymore.

As Giroud is playing the role of non-scoring striker at this World Cup — France had one the last time they won it in 1998 — nothing came of it, but that hardly mattered. The world had a better, improved image to take home from this World Cup. A moment of sublime skill, conjured by a teenager. And he, as much as anyone, knows the importance of that.

‘Football is, for me, more than a sport,’ Mbappe told Le Monde last year. ‘Just see the impact it has on society. People come to the stadium to forget their lives for 90 minutes and it’s up to us to take care of them, to make them get up from their chairs and fall asleep with stars in their eyes. When I was younger, there were players who gave me that pleasure — and now I am in the role.’

Mbappe has three goals so far at this World Cup, the most of any teenager since Pele in 1958 — who he will be unable to match unless he scores a hat-trick in the final against Croatia.

There has been much debate over where Russia 2018 stands in the pantheon of World Cups, whether it might even be the finest, but, whatever the view, a defining performance by a 19-year-old in the final would be a crowning glory.

While Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus appears, in part, an admission that his powers were slowly waning in the best league in Europe, and Lionel Messi may not be seen in an Argentina shirt again, the emergence of Mbappe here is evidence of football’s perpetual capacity for renewal.

It may seem incongruous to think of a player who has already attracted a £160million transfer fee as making a breakthrough, but Paris Saint-Germain’s payment was considered more reflective of his potential worth than his current value.

With PSG eliminated by Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League, few appreciated Mbappe’s continued development since leaving Monaco. He won the league again — but having bought the world’s most expensive player and created its most expensive teenager, that was expected.

What was not specifically foreseen was his impact here. The extraordinary pace that so startled Marcos Rojo that the Argentine felt he had no option but to bring him down in the penalty area. His finishing in the same match.

‘How do you defend against Mbappe?’ Alan Shearer asked Rio Ferdinand. ‘You look up and say please help me,’ Ferdinand replied. And Ferdinand was fast.

Ultimately, after a difficult start, Dejan Lovren and the rest of Croatia’s back line did well against the speed of Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard in the semi-final. Mbappe is a different level of explosive. And unlike Sterling at this tournament, he can finish.

He may be no threat to Harry Kane’s Golden Boot, but he is absolutely crucial to the way France have played at this World Cup under Didier Deschamps.

As churlish in defeat as Croatia were in victory, Belgium’s players exited the tournament complaining bitterly about France’s negative tactics. Their whines, however, took little heed of exactly why Deschamps can play a defensive game on the counter-attack. The quality of the front three: Antoine Griezmann, Giroud and, in particular, Mbappe.

Giroud and Griezmann operate unselfishly as the first line of defence and in Mbappe, Deschamps possesses the ultimate transitional weapon. Ferdinand’s shriek re-watching his turn of pace will have been recognised by all defenders. Pace terrifies and Mbappe combines it with a directness of purpose, an eye for goal.

Like the greats he hopes to emulate, he is forever honing in on the target: the speed, the flicks, the invention, it is all a means to an end. Against Belgium, out by the touchline, he first shows Marouane Fellaini the ball, then drags it left momentarily, and finally explodes right. The majority of players would have hugged the wide area for a cross, but Mbappe cuts in.

He has incredibly quick feet, despite the close attention. He hasn’t dominated in every game, but no team can claim to have subdued him for 90 minutes, either, and it is unlikely Croatia will tomorrow. France also have Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante to disturb Croatia’s rhythm in midfield, in a way England could not.

Luka Modric may be a Ballon d’Or contender but he is unlikely to be able to dictate the game as comfortably as he did for more than an hour on Wednesday.

WHEN individual prizes were mentioned to Mbappe, he was dismissive. There is only one trophy that he is interested in. ‘This cup is gold, and gold is supremacy,’ said Mbappe.

‘You have the impression for a split second that you are superior to others. It is a very special feeling. I find it beautiful.

‘For clubs there is the Champions League but the World Cup is something else. It’s the country, and there is nothing stronger. It is something extraordinary to say that the happiness of all France is in your hands. I want to embody France, represent France and give everything to France. It would be good for sport, and good socially.

‘For me, to have a long career, you have to set yourself high goals. If your ultimate goal is to win the championship of France, what do you do next? Unconsciously, your career is over. I won the championship at 18 but I still have a long way to go: back to work, win another championship, the Champions League, the World Cup and lots of other things.’

Perhaps the greatest concern for Mbappe and France’s competitors is the youth of this team. Just as Pele was still the driving force in a Brazil World Cup win 12 years after his first tournament, so Mbappe will be younger than Cristiano Ronaldo is now in 2030.

For all the talk of the youth of Gareth Southgate’s England squad, France have the same average age. The World Cup has not been retained since 1962 but, again, that feat was achieved by Brazil and Pele, the boy becoming a man, as Mbappe will be by the time of Qatar 2022.

He already appears to be taking the prospect of global fame in one of those lightning strides. ‘You’re home, you’re bored, you go out for a walk to get an ice cream,’ he said. ‘That’s over for me. I would not even have time to lick it when there would be 500 people around me. Most have this notoriety in old age. For me it started in the middle of adolescence. But that’s the life I wanted.’

And it’s the life he has got. Certainly if he puts the cherry on top of this World Cup tomorrow.