Mbappé wants Ronaldo career

In an interview published by 'La Gazzetta dell Sport' on Wednesday, Kylian Mbappé commented on his idols. "If you're french, you obviously grow up with Zidane as an idol. Then another idol was Cristiano Ronaldo, who I've been lucky enough to play against, including for the national team.

"Then I loved the great Brazilian players, like Pele, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Nazario and Ricardo Kaka... To my fans I want to give the message of a boy who believed in his dream, giving his all, trying to overcome his limits and leave a mark on my sport", the 21-year-old World champion added.

The French striker explained that for the future of his career he is inspired by what Cristiano Ronaldo achieved, as now "it is too late" to follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi and play all his career at one club. "It's too late for me to have a career like Messi, I would have had to stay at Monaco. Without taking away any merit from Messi, now I have to inspire myself no matter what on Ronaldo's career", he said.

Mbappé has a profound admiration for CR7,  who he considers to be the right player to bring the Champions League back to Juventus this season. "Juventus are a strong team and the finals they played in the last few seasons show that. They have always lacked something to make a difference, and now they have it thanks to Cristiano. He's the player who makes you win the important things. This year Juventus are among the favourites, but there are also the usual suspects, Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool", he said.

At PSG, Mbappé shares the dressing room with players like Neymar and Icardi, who he developed a good relationship with not only on the park. PSG's explosive trio has now scored 51 goals this year (21 Mbappé, 13 Neymar and 17 Icardi).

"Neymar is a great player, with whom I have a good relationship off the field. He's had two difficult seasons, but he's getting back to his best. This is good news for the Paris Saint-Germain fans and those who love football", he declared before speaking about Icardi.

"Mauro is one of the best strikers in the world, but he came in with humility, determined to help the team. He thinks of nothing but scoring when he's in the penalty area. He's already scored a lot, showing that he's an important player for PSG. We have a lot of affinity with Icardi, we have complementary styles of play. The important thing is to keep going," he continued.

However, the player who surprised him most at PSG was Italian international midfielder Marco Verratti. "Verratti is a phenomenon, I think it's obvious. He's the player who has impressed me the most since I've been at PSG. He's great and I'm incredibly lucky to have him in my team. I'm proud to play with him," he admitted.