2023-10-31 06:52:54
Great first for Kylian Mbappé. In the top 10 of the Ballon d’or since his first appearance in 2017, the Paris Saint-Germain striker was voted third best player of the season this Monday evening, during the Ballon d’or ceremony organized at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris. Only Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland are ahead of the captain of the France team, who still places talents like Vinicius, Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane and Kevin de Bruyne behind him.
A victory in the World Cup final, during which he scored three goals without allowing the Blues to win, could have offered Kylian Mbappé a first Ballon d’Or. It was ultimately Lionel Messi’s Argentina who brought home the Jules Rimet trophy, and it was the former Paris Saint-Germain player who also left with the Ballon d’or.
The season for the native of Bondy is still a success. In 43 matches with the capital club, the striker scored 41 goals and provided ten assists, weighing heavily on PSG’s French champion title. His journey in the Champions League was much more complicated, with elimination in the round of 16 against Bayern Munich, while the Frenchman was just returning from injury.
Among the Blues, the one who now wears the captain’s armband since the international retirements of Hugo Lloris and Raphaël Varane has been just as efficient. In addition to his stratospheric World Cup, concluded with eight goals and two assists in seven matches, Kylian Mbappé actively participated in the qualification of the French team for the next Euro, scheduled for next summer in Germany.
These performances therefore allowed the Parisians to find a place on the Ballon d’Or podium for the first time in their career. 7th in 2017, for his first season at the highest level, Kylian Mbappé followed up with a 4th place in 2018, a 6th place in 2019, a 9th place in 2021 and a new 6th place last year. This time, he enters a little further into the big leagues, before aiming for the coronation for the next seasons.
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