France’s Kylian Mbappe will face Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo at 2:00 a.m. on July 6 in the quarter-finals of EURO 2024.
Mbappe once shared that he idolized superstar Ronaldo since he was a child. The 1998-born striker has pasted pictures of his Portuguese senior all over his room.
It was that admiration that was part of the French superstar’s decision to join Real Madrid – despite PSG’s attempts to extend his contract with an ‘unimaginable’ salary.
Mbappe admired Ronaldo since he was a child…
The EURO 2024 quarter-final match between France and Portugal is another opportunity for Mbappe to face Ronaldo.
The pair first met on February 14, 2018, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 at the Bernabeu. At that time, Ronaldo played for Real Madrid and Mbappe was still playing for PSG.
The situation on the field was completely tilted towards the Spanish Royal team when Ronaldo scored a double to help the home team beat Mbappe’s team 3-1.
The return leg took place three weeks later and continued to see Mbappe fail to score, while Ronaldo still scored, helping Real Madrid win 2-1 away.
Mbappe’s third confrontation with the 1985-born star took place in the first leg of the Nations League group stage on October 11, 2020 in Paris.
France and Portugal drew 0-0, with both stars failing to score. In the return leg on November 14, Mbappe was absent, while N’Golo Kante scored to help France win 1-0 in Lisbon.
The fourth meeting was when France faced Portugal in Group F of EURO 2021. As before, Mbappe continued to be quiet, while Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scored twice for each side. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, enough for both France and Portugal to advance to the round of 16.
Mbappe still failed to score when facing Ronaldo in the official tournament.
After four consecutive goalless matches in official competitions, Mbappe scored in a friendly match between PSG and Al Nassr on January 19, 2023. Mbappe’s goal was scored from the penalty spot and although Ronaldo scored twice, the Saudi Arabian team still lost 4-5.
Mbappe has only scored one goal at EURO 2024, a penalty in France’s 1-1 draw with Poland in the final group stage match. However, this is a tournament in which Mbappe suffered a broken nose in the opening match against Austria. The French captain now has to wear a mask to protect his nose and has limited visibility.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo has not scored any goals in the last 4 matches at EURO 2024. The 39-year-old captain is the player with the most shots (20 times) but has not scored any goals for Portugal at this year’s tournament.
The quarter-final match between Portugal and France took place at the Volkspark, Hamburg, Germany.
