Cristiano Ronaldo faces Kylian Mbappe when Portugal and France meet in the quarter-finals of EURO 2024.
Cristiano Ronaldo is in the final stages of his career, while Kylian Mbappe is on his way to the top. Photo: UEFA
In Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis, a northeastern suburb of Paris, Kylian Mbappe grew up in a room plastered with pictures of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, dreaming of one day becoming as famous as him and even going head-to-head with the Portuguese superstar.
But more than that, tonight, Mbappe could end Ronaldo’s reign, when France meets Portugal in the quarter-finals of EURO 2024.
This isn’t the first time they’ve shared the same pitch. They faced off in the 2017-18 Champions League round of 16, when Real Madrid beat PSG 5-2 on aggregate – en route to Ronaldo’s fourth and final Champions League title in Spain.
Mbappe was still out of the national team when Les Bleus were beaten by Portugal in the EURO 2016 final, while Ronaldo scored twice in a 2-2 draw in the group stage to help Portugal reach the knockout stages at EURO 2020.
Tonight’s game in Hamburg is set in a completely different context to the Champions League six years ago, when Mbappe was 19, on loan from Monaco, full of potential and hype but still far from his peak.
Now 25, Mbappe is widely regarded as the best player in the world and carries on his shoulders the hopes of France’s first European Championship since 2000.
Ronaldo and Mbappe have faced each other several times at both club and national team level. Photo: UEFA
This summer, Mbappe will move to Real Madrid, where he is expected to be a mainstay. The focus and the attraction. That is the role of Ronaldo in his prime.
Six years on, Ronaldo – now in Saudi Arabia – remains the centre of attention. The 39-year-old’s role for Portugal was the subject of intense discussion after a last-16 tie against Slovenia that was summed up in free-kicks, a missed penalty and tears.
But fortunately, he was still able to successfully execute the penalty kick in the shootout, along with the brilliance of goalkeeper Diogo Costa to help Portugal advance.
Can Mbappe surpass Ronaldo?
If this is what is called a “plot of fate”, tonight’s match is truly a moment to behold. And according to the script of a Hollywood movie, the story would be that the scepter is passed, France defeats Portugal, Mbappe fully assumes Ronaldo ’s old role .
But football doesn’t always work on a schedule, and Ronaldo knows that. When he was 25, Portugal were knocked out of the 2010 World Cup in the last 16 by eventual champions Spain, and he had to wait another six years for another international trophy.
By 2010, Ronaldo had won three Premier League titles, a Champions League and his first Ballon d’Or. Facing Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, his golden era at Real Madrid had yet to begin.
Is it time to hand over the baton? Photo: UEFA
Mbappe, meanwhile, has seven Ligue 1 titles – six of them at PSG – and no Champions League. However, he has one thing that Ronaldo will never have – a World Cup, in 2018, at just 19 years old.
Could Mbappe surpass Ronaldo at Madrid if he follows a similar path? Possibly. The Barcelona of today is not the one Ronaldo faced. There is no Lionel Messi or Guardiola.
Real Madrid are the reigning champions both domestically and continentally, and their strength will only increase with the arrival of Mbappe.
Ronaldo scored 33 goals in 35 games in his first season at Madrid – a tally Mbappe has surpassed in five of his seven seasons at PSG, and that tally looks eminently achievable by 2024-25.
Mbappe has 287 career club goals to his name, while Ronaldo only scored 118 before joining Madrid.
Off the pitch, Mbappe has some work to do. Ronaldo remains an icon in Madrid, with a CR7-branded hotel in the city, more than half a billion social media followers and even a galaxy named after him.
Mbappe is expected to do the same when he arrives in Madrid. But before that, tonight’s clash will be eagerly awaited.
From a little boy lying in bed and admiring the pictures on the wall to becoming the main character in the pictures of many other children after tonight, why not?
