Cristiano Ronaldo refusing to call time because he knows Kylian Mbappe is coming for his records
Should Kylian Mbappe go on as long as Cristiano Ronaldo at the sharp end of football then France’s captain can expect to lead his team out at Euro 2038, by which time even Emmanuel Macron will be little more than two years short of his nation’s official retirement age.
Mbappe v Ronaldo in Hamburg on Friday night could be the farewell to one of the greats of the European game, and the celebration of his young successor. There is enough of an age difference between the two men − 13 years and six months − that Mbappe’s childhood bedroom walls were festooned with pictures of Ronaldo, just as one imagines Ronaldo’s bedroom walls are now. The curious aspect is that Mbappe’s development has been even more precocious.
