France skipper Kylian Mbappé was hailed in sports newpapers in France and Spain on Thursday for a dazzling hat trick in Real Madrid's 3-1 destruction of Manchester City in the second leg of their play-off to reach the last-16 Champions League.
In his home country, L'Equipe's front page declared: "Ole, ole, ole" while the Spanish newspaper As - traditionally a pro-Madrid tract - carried the headline: "Mbappé is already Cristiano" and showed a video of a young Mbappé in a Real Madrid shirt next to his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo.
"From idol to reference point ... and the measure of all things," said the article. "Mbappé began his Madrid career in the same way as Cristiano Ronaldo, with a packed Bernabeu and a: ‘One, two, three... Hala Madrid!
"A way of winning over Madrid fans, but the real test would come later, that of the huge numbers that the Portuguese star left behind in his time at the Bernabéu. Nine seasons, 438 games, 451 goals and a host of records. Among them, six seasons over 50 goals. The same goals that Mbappé is now being asked to score and that Kylian is on the way to achieving."
On 11 February, Mbappé scored in Madrid's 3-2 victory in the first leg against City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
And within four minutes of the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, he ran on to Raul Asencio's floated pass in between City defenders Ruben Dias and John Stones and coolly lobbed the goalkeeper Ederson to extend the aggregate lead to 4-2.
Range
Just after the half hour mark, taking a pass from Rodrygo, a neat piece of footwork left Josko Gvardiol sliding on the deck and into irrelevance before he slammed the ball past Ederson.
For the third, from the right hand side of the City penalty area, a sumptuous left-footed pass into the net past Ederson's despairing dive.
"This is the type of game we want to play," said Mbappé. "People told me about these nights at the Bernabeu and now I can see it with my own eyes and I want to live through many more of them."
After years of speculation, Mbappé went from Paris Saint-Germain to Madrid last summer. He struggled in his first few months and also had to endure allegations of raping a woman while on holiday in Stockholm.
The case was dropped in December and Mbappé has reasserted himself as one of the world's best strikers with 18 goals in his last 18 matches.
"I knew that I couldn't have done worse than I was doing," Mbappe told Movistar after the game against City.
Work
"I had to play with personality. My adaptation time was over and I have to show my quality. Making my dream come true is one thing but I want to play well here, mark an era and write history at Real Madrid," he explained.
Wednesday night's haul took his tally to 28 goals for Real Madrid in 38 games making him the first striker since Ronaldo in 2009/10 to score 25 goals in his first season at the club.
"Mbappé has the quality to reach the level of Cristiano at Madrid," Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said after the game.
"He has to work because Cristiano set the bar very high, Mbappé has just started at this club.
"For the quality he has, and the excitement he has to play here, he can reach Ronaldo's level but it won't be easy for him, he has to work."
Mbappé's former teammates at PSG cruised into the last-16. They walloped Brest 7-0 at the Parc des Princes to complete a 10-0 aggregate victory.
Elsewhere in the play-offs, PSV Eindhoven advanced after beating Juventus 3-1 and Dortmund, who lost in the 2024 Champions League final to Madrid, progressed at the expense of Sporting Portugal.
The draw for the last-16 will take place on Friday afternoon in the Swiss city of Nyon, the headquarters of the competition organisers Uefa.
PSG are scheduled to meet either Liverpool or Barcelona while Madrid will either take on city rivals Atletico or Bayer Leverkusen.
"Both would be difficult games," said Mbappé of the impending assignment. "So it's better to have a difficult game without having to travel."
