French forward Kylian Mbappe rained praises on ‘idol’ Cristiano Ronaldo during his fixture against the Portuguese star in France’s Nations League stalemate on Sunday.
Although both forwards had great efforts at goal, neither team could break the deadlock in a fairly even contest.
Even though no goals were scored during the game, Mbappe and Ronaldo still managed to showcase their skills to entertain TV viewers as the duo clearly savoured their personal match-up.
When the second half was about to begin, the pair were seen exchanging pleasantries with the Frenchman’s smile suggesting Ronaldo’s remarks were possibly quite cheeky.
The ❤️ between Ronaldo and Mbappe 😍🥰pic.twitter.com/4BukLmUFBj
— Goal (@goal) October 11, 2020
The last time the superstar forwards played against one another was in March 2018 when Real Madrid faced Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16.
Ronaldo has since signed for Serie A giants Juventus while Mbappe has stamped his name as one of football’s great talents with a World Cup title already in his kitty.
Mbappe has previously expressed his admiration for Ronaldo and took to social media after their latest match to label the Portugal star his ‘idol’.
Ronaldo himself commented on the post with a fist-bump emoji as the pair’s relationship clearly begins to blossom.
Speaking before the match on Sunday, France manager Didier Deschamps stressed that it was too soon to compare Mbappe to the Juventus icon .
“He [Ronaldo] was his idol. But I think that Cristiano was and is the idol of many young football players,” Deschamps said.
“It’s difficult to compare them. Cristiano has been playing for many years at the highest level. They aren’t the same age. I think it will be better to make a comparison when Kylian will be as old as Cristiano is now.
“They are two players who are able to be decisive for their team at any moment. It is a strength of Cristiano and it is also one of Kylian, even if he is younger. They both are top players.”
Deschamps was relieved post-match that France had managed to keep Ronaldo relatively quiet as he once again failed to fire against Les Bleus.
“We can always do better, then there is the quality of the opponent too. They take precautions like us, with respect to the players opposite like Cristiano, who we didn’t see too much tonight,” Deschamps told M6.
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