Aston Villa full-back, Matty Cash has shared his experience from playing against Kylian Mbappe during the World Cup Round of 16 match between Poland and France on Sunday, December 4.
During the match which ended 3-1 in favour of France, Mbappe bagged a brace and Olivier Giroud made history by becoming the country’s highest goal scorer with his 52nd international goal.
Speaking after their loss, Cash described Mbappe as the “quickest thing” he has ever seen. He added that the French star is the toughest opponent he has faced.
The Polish footballer said;
“I spent the afternoon watching his clips and I knew it was going to be a tough test, but when he gets the ball, stops and moves, he’s the quickest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m watching the videos while lying in bed! In real life he’s burning my legs, that’s the difference. I got into a couple of races with him, and I did alright. You look over your shoulder and he’s there.
“He’s obviously unbelievable and probably my toughest opponent by far. He’s probably in the top two, three players in the world at the minute. I didn’t know whether to drop off or go tight, and when I went tight he just spun in behind. I did everything I could, when it was one-on-one I thought I’d done OK against him, he didn’t really run me once.
“There were times where he got space on the counter-attack which is where he scored the second goal, and that’s where he hurts teams, but everyone saw tonight and in two, three, four years what he can do to teams, and he does that week-in, week-out.”
Mbappe has already broken a record once held by Pele as the youngest player to pass eight goals at World Cup finals.