Mbappe makes Champions League history amid transfer rumours

It's going to be hard to take Kylian Mbappe out of the endless loop of questions about his future after his departure from Paris was unofficially confirmed. But let's try to do so by talking about his latest achievement. The Frenchman made his Champions League debut in a first match for Monaco against Bayer Leverkusen in 2016 at the age of 17. That breakthrough, at first almost testimonial, in the most important competition at club level was strengthened from 2016-17, when he began to score and to attract the attention of half of Europe.

He soon showed that his talent was not sporadic. 7 years later and with several editions already enjoyed and suffered, his name goes down in history in a special category of the competition: the top scorers in knockout matches.

An important section for the tournament's sceptics. The group stage of the Champions League is demanding, but it is true that it opens windows for the best strikers to extend their records against smaller teams or those who are already a gear down in the last few rounds, with nothing at stake. But the important thing is played from the last 16 onwards. That's where goals are valued and valued at a premium. Kylian Mbappe, in his case, has already reached 16. In other words, he has just entered the 'top 10 all-time'.

The goal he scored at the Parc des Princes against Real Sociedad has opened the door to this luxurious ranking. He has managed to equal Pippo Inzaghi and also Arjen Robben. The Italian scored 16 goals in the 30 UCL knockout matches he played. The Dutchman, 16 in 48. Mbappe has done it in 25, and interestingly, at the same age. Six of them with Monaco and another 10 with Paris Saint-Germain.

He got his first taste of it in that glorious 2016-17 campaign in which Monaco were a surprise package in the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals. Mbappe, at just 18 years of age, scored twice against Manchester City, whom he eliminated in the last 16, three times against Borussia Dortmund and once against Juventus, who knocked the French side out of the competition. He already started to be important in the UCL knockout rounds. Perhaps what he lacked in Paris.

Once at the Parc des Princes, they bowed out of the 2017-18 knockout rounds at the first hurdle against a Real Madrid side that saw off the French side. Mbappe failed to find the net in either game. He did manage one in the last 16 of 2018-19 against a Manchester United side who, again, dispatched PSG in the last 16.

The 2019-20, the one marked by the pandemic, was the one that took Mbappe, and Paris Saint-Germain, to the final. However, the Frenchman went unnoticed: one assist in the two round of 16 games against Borussia, another against Atalanta in the quarter-finals and no goals in either the semi-final (vs. RB Leipzig) or the final (vs. Bayern Munich).

From 2020-21 onwards he improved his figures. In the round of 16 of that edition, they faced a Barcelona side they demolished in the first leg at the Camp Nou. A hat trick in a 4-1 win for the French side in Barcelona. In the second leg, Mbappe scored from the penalty spot to earn his side a 1-1 draw.

In the quarter-finals, he scored twice in Germany against Bayern to play a key role in advancing to the semi-finals, where he was eliminated at the hands of Manchester City. In 2022-23, although PSG were eliminated in the last 16 by Real Madrid, it was Kylian who scored both of PSG's goals. With the one against Real Sociedad in this 2023-24, he takes his tally to 16.

 

February 16, 2024

Several legends ahead

Kylian Mbappe's 16 goals on Tuesday took him into the top 10 of the Champions League's top scorers in knockout matches. He equalled Arjen Robben and Filippo Inzaghi to move to within two of the next level: Raul Gonzalez (46 games) and Andrei Shevchenko (32 games). Both, legends of the competition, reached 18.

Ahead of him, and with the possibility of adding to his tally, is Thomas Muller who, despite his position, has 26 in 68 games. His importance to Bayern Munich in this competition is evident in this ranking. Four behind, but still above, is Robert Lewandowski (30 goals in 44 games), the German's team-mate for years and now at Barcelona. The Pole can also add to his tally.

Already off the Champions League scene, Karim Benzema left for Saudi Arabia with 34 goals in 69 UCL knockout games, a far cry from the 49 in 77 of Leo Messi, who was just one short of half a hundred in this category, and the 67 in 85 games of the number one in this category: Cristiano Ronaldo.