Lionel Messi or Kylian Mbappe?
Which Paris Saint-Germain superstar will lead their country to the ultimate glory on Sunday?
Argentina and France meet at the World Cup in Qatar in a match-up that’s almost impossible to call.
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The stars of the show will be Messi and Mbappe.
In a subplot, Messi and Mbappe are also joint top goalscorers in the competition heading into the final. Meanwhile, they’re probably the only two players in with a chance of winning the Golden Ball – the award given to the best player of the tournament. Add to that the fact the winner of the World Cup may well have a big say on who wins the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
A World Cup, the Golden Boot, the Golden Ball and the Ballon d’Or are all up for grabs as far as Messi and Mbappe are concerned this Sunday.
While this is the final time we’ll see Messi at a World Cup, Mbappe still has at least two more tournaments left in him.
If Messi can win the World Cup, his status as the greatest of all time is surely cemented.
As for Mbappe, winning back-to-back World Cups will see him elevated as the best player in the world currently.
With 12 years separating them, it’s very difficult to compare Mbappe and Messi.
In truth, it’s far too premature to compare the Frenchman to the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Messi vs Mbappe at the age of 23
But an interesting graphic created by Transfermarkt has compared the two at the age of 23 – and Mbappe comes out on top in each metric.
The graphic looks at games, goals, assists, international caps, international goals and market value.
Mbappe trumps Messi in them all.
Is Mbappe better than Messi?
Does that mean Mbappe is on course to be better than Messi?
Statistically speaking, yes.
However, we’re simply not having the fact Mbappe is anywhere near Messi’s standard when they were both 23.
What the graphic conveniently leaves out is that, at the age of 23, Messi had two Ballon d’Ors to his name.
He also had a couple of European Cups too.
Is Mbappe better than Messi right now?
Possibly. After all, he is 12 years his junior.
Duff: Mbappe isn’t fit to lace Messi’s boots
But as Damien Duff said earlier this week, Mbappe doesn’t come close to peak Messi. Not yet anyway.
“The best version of Messi – when he was 23, 24 or 25 – Mbappe doesn’t lace his boots,” said Duff.
“The best version of Messi, Mbappe still doesn’t touch Messi – that is how good Messi was. That is what I am saying.”
Mbappe may well be the heir to Messi’s throne but he’s got a long way to go to even be in the same conversation in decades to come.
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