World Cup 2018: Kylian Mbappe’s focus is on the football, a welcome change to Neymar’s acting and ref influencing

KYLIAN MBAPPE and Edinson Cavani both starred to help their teams reach the last eight.

The sad thing is only one of them will be playing today, as Uruguay’s Cavani is injured.

France are very lucky to have Mbappe. I thought his display against Argentina was the best individual performance of the World Cup so far, in what was the best match of the tournament as well.

He scored twice, with brilliant play, and made another, with that incredible run for the penalty.

If there’s one thing that fans like to see it’s a player who can run at full speed towards the goal.

The first touch for his second goal was brilliant and it showed that, even at 19, he has the ability to simply focus on the moment and what is required.

It’s not like Neymar, with all the acting and trying to influence the referee, the stuff I don’t like to see.

Instead, with Mbappe, he is completely focused on the game and what he can do for his team.

He doesn’t think he is a superstar, even though he is one. He still has his feet on the ground.

And it is that humility that makes him a special talent, potentially the best player in the world.

The Argentina game was the best match I’ve seen him play.

He doesn’t just ‘look quick’, he IS quick. And from the start, too. He is blistering from the first stride.

And it’s not just pure speed. He has it when he has the ball as well, which is not so easy.

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Just look at the penalty he won against Argentina. He ran 70 metres, burned off Javier Mascherano, was too quick for the rest of the Argentina side and then went past Marcos Rojo. The only thing Rojo could think of doing was to foul him.

And that was all with the ball.

In modern football, it is these high-speed players who make the difference.

Teams try to get behind the ball, to close off the space, but the one thing they cannot close it against is that sort of speed, because Mbappe can simply run past the lines. There is no answer to that.

He gets from one box to the other one and doesn’t give the other midfield a chance to get back. That immediately opens up the spaces for his team-mates and creates chances and goals.

His finishing is top class as well. You could see with the two goals he scored against Argentina that he is instinctive.

And he has that same ability with his left foot as his right. If the ball is there, the chance is there, he will find the net.

But just as important is his attitude. That’s why I say he is grounded. For Mbappe it is ‘focus, focus, focus’.
His first thought is football. You can see a boy who lives for the game, who loves the game but also shows a willingness to listen to his experienced team-mates.