What a difference a year makes.
After struggling at this time last year, Kylian Mbappe is now in sparkling form. The French star is unstoppable for Real Madrid and has already posted some impressive statistics this season. He bagged a hat-trick in his side’s 5-0 win over Kairat in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, 30 September, and has now scored 14 goals in ten matches for Los Merengues in all competitions since the start of the season. Only one man, England’s Harry Kane, has outperformed Mbappe in the five major European leagues this term, having already notched 18 goals in just ten matches for Bayern Munich.
“Kylian has fire in his legs at the moment,” said France coach Didier Deschamps at a press conference on Thursday. “He’s confident and in a good place mentally. He’s got a real aura about him.” The top scorer in La Liga with nine goals, Mbappe has found the back of the net in all but one of his club’s ten games this season.
He also scored in each of France’s two FIFA World Cup 26™ qualifiers last month, first in a 2-0 victory against Ukraine and then in a 2-1 home win over Iceland. By way of comparison, the former PSG man had to wait until the penultimate matchday of the Qatar 2022 preliminaries to open his goalscoring account – and in some style – with a four-goal haul in an 8-0 win over Kazakhstan.
Aside from his goals and his leadership on the pitch, what is also striking about this new-look Mbappe is his burgeoning maturity and his determination to be an exemplary skipper for France. “He’s totally committed to us,” said Deschamps. “He has embraced his role as captain and his responsibility to the group very well.”
Against Azerbaijan on Friday, the man with 52 goals for Les Bleus will have the chance to shine in his old backyard at the Parc des Princes and move a step closer to Olivier Giroud’s France record of 57 goals, having already passed Thierry Henry’s 51 strikes last month. “Titi (Henry) was an extraordinary player, a living legend… It’s amazing to be ahead of him,” said the France captain after the win over Iceland on 9 September. “But there’s still one more person to get past, so I’m not going to celebrate too much,” he joked. “There is still work to be done.”
First up is a home clash with Azerbaijan, the team currently propping up Group D, and France will be able to call on a determined Mbappe as they look to make it three wins out of three in UEFA qualifying. A victory against the Azeris, combined with three more points in Iceland three days later, could even secure France’s place at next year’s World Cup.
Even if they don’t seal the deal in the upcoming round of matches, they would still have the chance to finish the job on 13 and 16 November, first against Ukraine at the Parc des Princes and then in Azerbaijan. But with such a fit and motivated captain in their ranks, Les Bleus have every reason to be optimistic that they will indeed be in North America next year.
