Kylian Mbappé was recently named the best French footballer of 2019 for the second consecutive year by France Football and after receiving the award, he gave an insightful interview to the publication that is set to be published on Tuesday.
In the interview, Mbappé discussed a wide range of topics, including his relationship with Neymar Jr., and also mentioned the Brazilian’s former teammate, Lionel Messi.
When asked about the race for the Golden Shoe (leading goalscorer in Europe) against Messi last season, Mbappé expressed shock that FC Barcelona forward was watching him play.
“[At the end of last season] Rather than putting my head down under the ground and waiting quietly for the end of the season, I tried to outdo myself. I then realized that I could try to seek this title of best European scorer. […] But, opposite, there was a player, Messi. I scored two, he scored three; I scored three, he scored four! It was so crazy that I talked about it with Ousmane [Dembélé]. ‘It is not possible, does he do it on purpose? He looks at the number of goals I score?’ ‘Of course he’s looking at you!’ I said to myself: ‘Ah yeah, anyway, Messi is watching me…’ It is flattering to see that such a player does not neglect you.”
Messi would go on to claim the Golden Shoe with 36 goals in La Liga throughout the 2018-19 season. Mbappé finished with 33 goals in Ligue 1. This season, Mbappé is just outside the Golden Shoe top 10 but an injury earlier in the season is primarily to blame. The Frenchman has been on fire in recent weeks and many expect him to go on a tear in the second half of the season.
As it turns out, Messi isn’t the only legend of the game keeping an eye on PSG’s fixture list. Former PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently named Mbappé as his favorite player in world football as reported by The Mirror.
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