9781422270738

CHAPTER 1

Greatest Moments

GIANT OF THE GAME The soccer landscape has been defined in this era by a trio of iconic players—Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar—but now a mesmerizing young megastar has emerged, turning heads, trampling the record books, and seizing his place alongside the giants of the game. Kylian Mbappé, raised in a low-income neighborhood in the shadows of Paris, has become one of France’s most famous, beloved, and heroic figures. Bursting onto soccer’s grandest stage as a teenager at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he did the unthinkable, scoring a goal in France’s epic 4–2 win over Croatia in the title match. That fantastic feat linked him with arguably the greatest ever to play the game, legendary Brazilian striker Pelé, as the only two teenagers to ever score a goal in a World Cup championship match. Ever since joining Monaco (a club in France’s top flight Ligue 1) at the hard-to-believe age of 16 and hopping to world-class powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) a couple of seasons later, Mbappé has been

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Greatest Moments