‘Mbappe will want to break Messi & Ronaldo records’ – France superstar tipped by Gallas to surpass Henry & Zidane

• PSG star shining at 2022 World Cup
• Has led France to another final
• Backed to eclipse achievements of legends

WHAT HAPPENED? At 23 years of age the Paris Saint-Germain forward is a long way from scaling such heights just yet, but impressive progress has been made to this point. Mbappe is already a World Cup winner with 221 goals at club level to his name and a further 33 efforts through 65 appearances for France, and Gallas sees no reason why he cannot go on to match or eclipse the efforts of two iconic figures that have dominated the scene over the last 20 years.

WHAT THEY SAID: Former France international Gallas has told Genting Casino: “I think Kylian Mbappe can reach the heights of Messi and Ronaldo. Kylian will want to be the best and it will be on his mind. Messi and Ronaldo set good examples for him so he will want to break all of their records. When you have that mentality, you have to work hard in the long term. With his ability, he can stay very long at a high level and he can certainly get close to the two legends, Messi and Ronaldo.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Mbappe will get the chance on Sunday to become a two-time world champion, as France prepare to face Argentina in the final showdown of Qatar 2022, and Gallas says victory there would edge a superstar of the present above a couple from the recent past. He added: “If Mbappe wins the World Cup on Sunday, many will say he has surpassed Thierry Henry. However, Henry is a legend and what he did at Arsenal was incredible. To surpass Henry you have to be a legend too, and if he wins his second World Cup, he certainly would be a legend. It’s not just Mbappe though who has this opportunity. The players who won it in 2018, such as [Raphael] Varane, [Hugo] Lloris, [Olivier] Giroud, [Antoine] Griezmann, Mbappe and [Ousmen] Dembele will all surpass the legendary French players, such as [Lilian] Thuram, [Zinedine] Zidane and [Marcel] Desailly They will become legends.”

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WHAT NEXT? Mbappe has registered a tournament-high five goals at the 2022 World Cup, alongside Argentine talisman Messi, and will return to PSG at the end of another major finals with questions being asked of how long he intends on sticking around at Parc des Princes.