Kylian Mbappe: 12 things you may not know about France's football star

“Liberté, Égalité, Mbappé...” remember the moment?

Football superstar Kylian Mbappe had just lived up to the hype, helping France to their second World Cup victory at Russia 2018.

Marked out as a child prodigy since he was six, and making his Monaco debut at 16, Mbappe was already a World Cup winner at 19, joining Brazilian legend Pele as the only other player to win it as a teenager.

Now he's being talked about in the same sentence as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

"Paris Saint-Germain have a really big star of the future, one who's going to be at the level of Leo or Cristiano," said Mbappe's French teammate Antoine Griezmann after that hattrick helped PSG humble Messi's Barcelona in the Champion's League back in February 2021.

"He lacks nothing but time," PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino stated when AFP asked him whether Mbappe could succeed Messi and Ronaldo at the top of the sport.

At 22, the PSG prodigy is eligible to play with France at the upcoming Olympics. So will we see him play at Tokyo 2020 this summer? We hope so!

The star striker has reiterated his desire to represent his country two months ahead of the Games.

"Everyone knows that my dream has always been to take part at the Olymoic Games and I hope I will be able to realise one of my lifelong dreams," he told French TV station TF1.

France have been drawn alongside hosts Japan, Mexico and South Africa in Group A.

Here are some fun facts about France and PSG's megastar.

Kylian Mbappe profile

Born: December 20, 1998

Age: 22

Position: Striker

Club: Paris St. Germain (PSG)

Country: France

1. "It's not bad, Messi is watching me"

In the 2018/2019 season Messi won the European Golden Shoe with 36 league goals while Mbappe was just 3 behind on 33.

In an interview with France Football in December 2019 Mbappe said he found out that Messi had one eye on him all the way.

"I saw that I could maybe get this title of the top goalscorer in Europe. … But, facing off against me, was Messi. I would score twice on a weekend, he would go and score three; I would score three, he would score four!"

"It was so crazy that I spoke with Ousmane [Dembele] about it. 'This is crazy! Is he doing this on purpose?' He responded: 'Of course he is looking at you!' I said to myself: 'Ah, not bad, Messi is surveilling me.' It is flattering to see that such a player is not overlooking you."

2. Cristiano Ronaldo was Kylian Mbappe's idol

These days it isn't just Messi treating Mbappe as a rival, Ronaldo is clear that France's shooting star is the future too:

"Mbappe is the future and the present. He's a fantastic player, very fast, and he will be the future," Ronaldo said via Omnisport and Fox Sport Asia.

But just a few years ago things were very different, Mbappe's bedroom was wallpapered with posters of the Portuguese national hero.

There's a famous old photo with a young Kylian posing in a green jacket surrounded by a shrine of Ronaldo photos.

In 2019 Mbappe recreated the photo, but this time the pictures are of himself holding the World Cup (Which neither Ronaldo nor Messi have managed), winning Ligue 1 with Neymar and a cut out of his TIME magazine photo cover.

Times can change quickly when you have the talent and dedication of Kylian Mbappe.

3. Mbappe faster than Usain Bolt?

Is Kylian Mbappe really faster than Usain Bolt?

The easy answer is: No.

When the French flyer scored that incredible goal against Monaco in 2019, laying a ball off in in his own half before scorching through the centre of the pitch to finish off a fine move, the speed he clocked went viral.

Mbappe reached 38kph (23.61mph) in his determined dash from the halfway line, faster than the 37.58kph (23.35mph) that Bolt averaged when he set his 9.58 second 100m world record in 2009.

But Bolt reached 42.7km/h (27.8mph) in that world-record sprint in Berlin and over 100 metres from a block start - sorry Kylian, sorry Cristiano - no footballer alive is getting close to prime Bolt.

4. Only Pele was a younger World Cup winner

At 19 years old, Mbappe was the first teenager to score in a World Cup final since 1958, 60 years earlier.

The only other teen sensation to do it was Pele, who was 17 when he scored in Brazil's 5-2 World Cup final win over Sweden.

Mbappe scored in France’s 4-2 victory over Croatia in 2018 and afterwards the Brazilian icon tweeted his congrats.

“Only the second teenager to have scored a goal in a #WorldCupFinal! Welcome to the club, @KMbappe – it’s great to have some company!”

“If Kylian keeps equalling my records like this I may have to dust my boots off again..” joked Pelé.

5. Mbappe: a family of athletes

Kylian Mbappe could have been a French handball star.

Things might have been different had a young Kylian followed in his mother Fayza Lamar's footsteps, she played Division 1 handball in France back in the 90's.

Luckily for football fans, he chose to follow dad into his sport instead, his father Wilfried was a footballer who played for AS Bondy, the local team that represents the banlieue of Bondy where Kylian Mbappe grew up.

In fact, the whole family are athletes, Mbappé’s adopted brother, Jirès Kembo-Ekoko, is a professional footballer too who's played with Rennes and is currently in Turkey with Bursapor.

Then there's Ethan Mbappé, Kylian's little bro' who is quietly on the rise at Barcelona's famed La Masia Academy where Messi mastered his trade.

French coach Jean-Claude Lafargue says the family has another potential star in the making:

“He’s a kid who has a lot of quality. He’s a very elegant midfielder. He’s very comfortable, very intelligent. He’s an emerging player, that’s for sure.”

6. Kylian Mbappe could have chosen Algeria or the Cameroon

A World Cup winner with France, Mbappe could easily have chosen to play for Cameroon or Algeria.

His mother's roots are Algerian and his father is actually from Cameroon.

But Mbappe was born and grew up in France, he was selected to play at the prestigious Clairefontaine academy and represented France at underage level.

He won the U19 UEFA European Championships with France in 2016 and there was only one choice for Kylian.

Two years later he was lifting the World Cup for Les Bleus.

7. Mbappe FIFA 21

Mbappe loves the videogame 'FIFA', and when he was chosen for the cover of FIFA 2021 he called it a "Dream come true."

8. Mbappe's big heart

A humble superstar with his feet on the ground, his acts of generosity have only added to his popularity.

He has said that footballers make 'indecent' amounts of money and donated all his World Cup earnings from Russia 2018 (Reportedly around 400,000 euros - close to half a million US dollars), to 'Premiers de Cordée', a children's charity.

“For people like us, giving a helping hand to people is not a big thing," he told Time magazine.

"It doesn’t change my life, but it changes theirs. And if it can change theirs, it is a great pleasure.”

“I gave the money to the charity where I am a sponsor because being handicapped is something difficult. Showing them that they can do sports like everyone it is something close to my heart.”

9. "The next Thierry Henry"

The biggest reason for Mbappe's grounded vision of life is his close family support system, and the way they have helped him make the big decisions.

Born in Bondy, a suburb roughly 11 kilometres northeast of Paris, Mbappe is a success story from the much-maligned ouskirts of Paris.

When he went to the World Cup a red banner draped across Bondy city hall read, “Thank you Kylian, all of the people of Bondy are with you!”

After he lifted the World Cup they hosted a welcome back reception, packed with cheering crowds full of young, excited fans.

When he trained trained at the AS Bondy football club they called him “the next Henry,” echoed by Arsene Wenger in 2017 when he revealed he tried to bring Mbappe to Arsenal at the time.

"It's true he has similar qualities," Wenger told The Ligue 1 show. "He could be another Thierry Henry."

But at the age of 14, after a lot of family discussion, he turned down Liverpool and Real Madrid among others to sign for Monaco.

Breaking into the first team in December 2015 at 16 years old, he took Thierry Henry's record for the youngest player and a year later, he became the youngest player to score for Monaco, breaking another one of Henry’s records.

10. Mbappe's obsession for sneakers

You can't live in Paris and not be influenced by fashion, and Mbappe is no different, he loves his kicks and says he's like a “kid with a new toy” when he gets a pair of sneakers.

In an interview with Hypebeast he talked about crying to his mother to get the latest runners, but they're pricey and he said he often had to beg.

Now they're wearing his boots.

11. 50 million followers

With 50 million followers on Instagram, Mbappe is still way behind Cristiano Ronaldo (274 million) and Lionel Messi (194), but his reach across the world is only going to grow.

And the Frenchman is using his influence for good from supporting charity causes to wider social issues like tackling racism.

12. Mbappe to play at the Olympics?

With Liverpool's Mo Salah (Egypt), Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos (Spain) and Tottenham's Son Heung-Min all potentially playing at the Tokyo Games this summer, Mbappe may just join the party.

At 22 years of age, he's is on the good side of the age cut-off which is under-24 now, following the postponement of the Olympics from summer 2020 to 2021.

Back in 2018 Mbappe said he'd like to play at an Olympic Games:

“I still have a lot of things to do. I want to accomplish everything. With France, I still have the European Championship to win. I would also, why not, like to compete in the Olympics,” he told RMC Sport.

But with Euro 2020 also pushed back to summer 2021, it won't be easy for Mbappe to fit the Olympics in too.

The President of the French Football Federation (FFF) Noel Le Graet spoke to Eurosport in March 2021 saying:

“We must salute his attitude; to see a boy who is so admired proclaim his desire to participate in the Olympics with his country - I find it brilliant, very refreshing.

Football fans will have their fingers crossed for a rare joy of watching the electrifying football of Kylian Mbappe twice in one summer.