“RIP King”. Moments after the announcement of his death, Kylian Mbappé paid tribute to King Pelé. “The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten,” he wrote on Twitter in English. With his words, the Paris Saint-Germain striker slips a photo of him alongside the three-time World Cup winner with Brazil, in black and white.
During the World Cup in Qatar, the number 10 of the Blues had shown his support for Pelé, whose state of health was deteriorating. “Pray for the King,” he wrote in a tweet posted on December 3.
The two football prodigies met for the first time in Paris in 2019. “He is the idol, the absolute legend. Pelé is power and elegance, I was inspired by it and I continue to be inspired by it, ”said the young French world champion, 20, with a smile on his face.
Mbappé and Pelé were able to talk for about forty minutes in one of the private rooms of the Lutetia hotel in Paris. A moment of exchange in French and English which ended with a handover of jerseys: the Parisian had offered his club tunic, and the Brazilian a replica of that of the Seleçao with his famous number 10 on the back.