During his press conference as coach of the Espoirs, Thierry Henry paid tribute to Kylian Mbappé this Sunday. After his hat-trick in the historic victory against Gibraltar (14-0), the captain of the Blues already has 300 career goals. Not even 25 years old.
He is ahead of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema and all the great scorers of recent years. By scoring a hat-trick during the French team’s defeat against Gibraltar on Saturday in the Euro 2024 qualifiers (14-0), Kylian Mbappé reached the symbolic mark of 300 career goals, notably scoring a distant strike. A dizzying stadium for a player who will only celebrate his 25th birthday next month. Enough to bluff Thierry Henry, himself the author of 360 goals during his entire career, which ended at the age of 37 in Major League Soccer…
“I’ve already said it, what he’s doing is nonsense, this little guy reacted. coach of the Espoirs, this Sunday at a press conference. “What do you mean? He gets us so used to (he searches for words)… it’s just incredible. And then, he doesn’t even really play in the middle. He’s everywhere, in fact . He’s not the real instinctive scorer. He scores goals. He’s a player who scores goals, who passes, who knows how to do almost everything. He can of course refine certain things, but there That’s not the debate. Already reaching 300 goals…”
“Let’s be happy that he is French”
Author of 15 goals in 15 matches with PSG this season (all competitions), Mbappé is strengthening his status as top scorer in the history of the capital club. He is now the third in the history of the Blues, five points behind Thierry Henry and ten behind Olivier Giroud. A crazy rhythm which does not prevent the crack of Bondy from regularly coming under criticism.
“That’s kind of the problem when you’re very, very strong, is that people often see what you’re not doing, what you’ve failed or when you haven’t been good,” Henry observes. “Now, it’s true that we are a little demanding with him. But he didn’t just have to be so good (smile). All joking aside, I often say it, let’s be happy that he’s French. He already has two World Cup finals, he scores a hat-trick in the World Cup final, unfortunately he doesn’t win it (2022). Once he scores, he wins it (2018). He already has 300 goals , some people didn’t put that into training. It’s just extraordinary. Let’s keep watching it.”
Can he reach 1,000 goals?
It remains to be seen how many times the captain of the France team will shake the nets before hanging up his crampons. “1,000. No, I’m overdoing it,” jokes Thierry Henry. “Kylian, it’s him who will decide. To be around him a little, I know that he’s a guy who breathes football, who prepares well, who doesn’t do everything and anything (…) Professionalism, the desire to play. He is always there (…) At a given moment, we see what he does, but we forget the work he does on the side. Being able to maintain such a level repeatedly, Hats off!”
