Kylian Sanmi Mbappé Lottin, known in the world of soccer as Kylian Mbappé or just Mbappé, is a French soccer player of Cameroonian and Algerian descent who plays as a striker; He is also recognized as one of the promising forwards in world soccer. He was born on December 20, 1998 in Paris, France and is the son of Wilfried Mbappé and Fayza Mbappé. From a very young age he showed an interest in soccer and stood out for his dribbling, speed, control and ball power; In addition, he highlighted that his favorite players have been Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Club career

He made his professional debut with France’s Monaco on December 2, 2015, in his team’s draw against SM Caen in Ligue 1; he came on as a substitute for Fábio Coentrão in the 88th minute, becoming the youngest senior debutant for Monaco at the age of 16 years and 347 days, breaking Thierry Henry’s record.

On February 20, 2016, Kylian Mbappé scored his first goal as a professional in his team’s 3-1 victory over Troyes; in this way, he became the youngest player to score a goal for Monaco at the age of 17 years and 62 days. On March 6 of that same year, the player signed his first professional contract, which was registered for 3 years.

Kylian Mbappé scored his first hat-trick on December 14, 2016, when Monaco defeated Stade Rennais F.C. 7-0 in the round of 16 of the league cup.

On February 11, 2017, Mbappé scored his first hat-trick in Ligue 1, after Monaco’s 5-0 victory over FC Metz. On February 21 of that same year, he scored the second goal for Monaco in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 against Manchester City, where Monaco was defeated 5-3. On March 5, he scored two goals in Monaco’s 4-0 victory over FC Nantes, becoming the youngest player in the last 30 years to reach that figure in Ligue 1.

In the return leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 against Manchester City, he contributed with a goal in Monaco’s 3-1 victory (global 6-6) and advanced to the quarterfinals. On April 12, 2017, he scored 2 goals in Monaco’s 2-3 victory in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Borussia Dortmund. His team managed to reach the UEFA Champions League semifinals, where it was eliminated by Juventus of Italy.

At the end of the 2016-2017 season, Mbappé became Ligue 1 champion with his team Monaco. In addition, he managed to score 26 goals in all the competitions played that season.

Consolidation with PSG

Kylian Mbappé’s excellent performance made the best clubs in Europe interested in him. On August 31, 2017, Mbappé’s loan to Paris Saint-Germain was made official, with a mandatory purchase option of 180 million euros at the end of the 2017-2018 season.

He made his debut with PSG on September 8, 2017 in his team’s 5-1 victory over FC Metz; In addition, he managed to score his first goal with his new club in that game.

On October 23, 2017, Kylian Mbappé was awarded the Golden Boy award given by the Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport to the best player under 21 of the year. On October 7, 2018, he scored four goals for the first time in his career in the 5-0 victory over Olympique Lyon. At the beginning of the new year, he reached 20 goals in the season by scoring a hat-trick against En Avant de Guingam. On February 12, 2019, he scored in the 0-2 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford. As a candidate for the Golden Boot of that season, a hat-trick allowed him to reach 30 goals in Ligue 1 on April 21, against Monaco. He was the second person to achieve this feat after Jean-Pierre Papin in 1990.​

Mbappé was the main reference of the club in what was one of the best times of his career (2018-19). The next season, the sport, like other areas of daily life, was affected by the outbreak of type 2 coronavirus, which became a pandemic in March 2020. The outbreak forced the UEFA, FFF, and LFP to cancel competitions, and competitions were not resumed until months later after a decrease in deaths due to population confinement.

For the 2020-21 season, after returning to the field, the team lost Ligue 1 to Lille Olympique Sporting Club, despite Mbappé being the top scorer in the tournament (with 27 goals). Then, PSG had a magnificent tournament, and after qualifying as first in their group, they faced Fútbol Club Barcelona in the round of 16. In the first leg, Mbappé scored a hat-trick that received praise and accolades in the international press. Finally, a 1-1 draw in the second leg secured PSG’s qualification.

In the quarterfinals, they faced Bayern Munich, and Mbappé was decisive again with two goals in Germany. Mbappé contributed to the team’s qualification for the semifinals; he also became the standout player of the tournament after scoring five goals away from home (against Barca and then against Bayern). In the final, Chelsea won the title.

One of Mbappé’s dreams is undoubtedly to achieve glory at the club level, win the UEFA Champions League and the Club World Cup, the top competitions at that level. The year 2022 seemed to be the right time to achieve these goals, since PSG had a team full of stars such as Sergio Ramos, Lionel Messi, and Neymar.

After comfortably advancing in the Champions League group stage, he had to face a huge challenge, facing the all-time winner of this competition, Real Madrid C.F. It was a series full of emotions, as in the first leg Mbappé was able to show his quality, advancing PSG in the series. However, the second leg had special ingredients: a full and expectant Santiago Bernabéu Stadium looking to see what they thought would be their new signing: Mabappé. Kylian was up to the task, advancing PSG 0-2 and almost sentencing the key. Popular culture says ’90 minutes at the Bernabéu are very long’, and Mbappé firsthand experienced one of the magical nights at the Bernabéu; with Karim Benzema as the main star, who in just 17 minutes scored an anthology hat-trick that eliminated PSG and with it Mbappé’s aspirations to be consecrated at the club level.

Current

Currently, Mbappé’s stay at PSG was in doubt after the signing of Messi, as he wanted to lead a football project and the arrival of Messi could mean being in the shadow of the Argentine star. In addition, the famous elimination suffered at the Santiago Bernabéu left in the air the idea that Kylian might have opted for Real Madrid, a team he had been in talks with throughout 2022. However, after reaching a verbal agreement with Florentino Pérez, his plans took an unexpected turn and he decided to renew with PSG in mid-May 2022. This renewal, which will extend until 2025, was influenced by the intervention of the high French and Qatari political circles and sparked a great controversy on a global level, especially in the Spanish press.

Personal life

He was for a long time in a relationship with actress Emma Smet. In 2022 he was romantically linked to model and trans activist Ines Rau.

Teams
S. Monaco F. C. (2015-18)
Paris Saint-Germain F. C. (transferred 2017-18)
Paris Saint-Germain F. C. (2018- present)

Titles won

Ligue 1 of France (2016-2017 with Monaco; 2018-19, 2019-20, 2021-22 with PSG)
Champion of the UEFA Under-19 Championship 2016, with the French national team.
Coupe de France (2017-18, 2019-20, 2020-21)
Super Coupe de France (2019, 2020)

Individual recognitions

Part of the Tournament Team of the UEFA Under-19 Championship 2016.
Ligue 1 Player of the Month (April): 2017.
Ligue 1 Team of the Year 2017.
Best Young Player of the Year by the UNFP 2017.
Included in the Champions League Team of the Year 2016-2017.
Golden Boy 2017 award.
Kopa Trophy (best Under-21 player in the world) of 2018.
Bronze Team 2019.
Top scorer of the UEFA Nations League Final Four 2021.
Globe Soccer Awards Best Player of the World award in 2021.