England’s Bukayo Saka has played down comparison with France striker Kylian Mbappe ahead of the two nations’ quarter-final clash.
Saka impressing at World CupMbappe top scorerForward rejects comparisons
WHAT HAPPENED? Saka scored his third goal of World Cup 2022 on Sunday as England booked a quarter-final date with France in Qatar with a comfortable victory over Senegal. The Arsenal star has been asked about coming up against Mbappe, who scored four goals at the last World Cup at the age of 19 and won the Young Player of the Tournament award, but played down comparisons with the Paris Saint-Germain superstar.
WHAT THEY SAID: “Thank you for your compliment, but no…I think there’s only one Kylian Mbappe!” he told reporters. “At the same time there’s only one me. I just want to be myself and help my team in the best way I can. There’s a lot of young players in this tournament, I can name so many. Even in our team, there’s a young player who’s doing unbelievably well in Jude Bellingham. I’m just happy we are all here and doing well. The priority is to win the tournament rather than be the player of the tournament or the young player of the tournament.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Mbappe will be the big threat when England take on France and currently tops the scoring charts in Qatar with five goals from four games. However, Saka has shown already the danger he can cause teams, and France will also be well aware that no team has scored as many goals at the 2022 World Cup so far as England.
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DID YOU KNOW? Mbappe has scored five goals in four games at the 2022 World Cup, already surpassing his goal tally from his previous appearance in the tournament in 2018 (four goals in seven appearances). Mbappe is also the youngest French player on record (since 1966) to score and assist in a World Cup knockout stage game (23y 349d).
WHAT NEXT FOR SAKA? The Arsenal star was back in the England starting XI against Senegal and will be hoping to keep his place for the quarter-final clash with France on Saturday.
