New stars rise at World Cup
The era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is waning but the World Cup in Russia is revealing new stars.
There is no doubt as the 2018 World Cup heads to the quarter-final stage on Friday and Saturday at the weekend that a changing of the guard in the leading lights of the game is in progress. The impact of 31-year-old Lionel Messi and 33-year-old arch rival Cristiano Ronaldo has been negligible with both handed their air tickets home within hours of each other at the weekend.
In their place the likes of 19-year-old Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane of England and the Belgian duo of Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard are emerging as global stars of the future.
They were all expected to shine but the tournament has also unearthed some hitherto unknown players with the potential to attract the attention of the biggest football clubs on the planet.
has picked out five players who have emerged from the shadows at the World Cup. Look out for them into the future.
YOUNES BELHANDA (MOROCCO): Morocco may have exited in the first round from a difficult group that included Spain and Portugal, but a number of their players emerged with reputations enhanced. One of those is French-born Belhanda, who plays for Galatasaray in the Turkish league.
HIRVING LOZANO (MEXICO): Mexico’s opening group victory over Germany set the tone for their progress in the tournament with a big part of their success down to PSV Eindhoven winger Lozano, who has mesmerised opposition defences. Not that it should be any great surprise - he netted 19 goals in 37 games for PSV Eindhoven in the last Dutch season and got the goal in Russia that saw Mexico sink group favourites Germany.
SERGEJ MILINKOVIC-SAVIC (SERBIA): The midfielder, at 1.9 metres tall, is an imposing presence, strong in the air both offensively and defensively, and puts his foot in when required. But his major asset is an eye for goal, having scored 12 from 35 games for Lazio in Serie A last season.
BENJAMIN PAVARD (FRANCE): The stunning goal from the full-back in Saturday’s last-16 win over Argentina shot up his transfer value immediately. Pavard is among the most recent arrivals in the French ranks, playing his football in neighbouring Germany at Stuttgart. The 22-year-old with the curly brown locks received his maiden call-up in November 2017 and has wasted little time in making his presence felt.
ANTE REBIC (CROATIA): Rebic debuted in the 2014 World Cup play-offs, before playing in all three of Croatia’s games in Brazil. But his career has taken off in the Bundesliga at Eintracht Frankfurt. New Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic clearly places the same trust in the player as his predecessor, using him in the majority of games since his appointment.