Football legend Pele once told Kylian Mbappe in April that he
believed the French World Cup winner can emulate his own achievement of scoring
1,000 career goals.
The 78-year-old Brazilian claims to have netted over 1,000 goals
in his career, while Mbappe has so far managed 103 in total, with 92 of those
coming at the top level.
“It’s possible, I scored exactly 1,025, so 1,000 goals is
possible for him,” Pele told AFP in Paris, where he met Mbappe at a
sponsor event for Hublot watches.
Mbappe, who last year became only the second teenager to score
in a World Cup final after Pele in France’s 4-2 victory over Croatia, played
down Pele’s comments.
“I think that even if we count the goals on inter-city
pitches and goals on the PlayStation, I won’t be able to reach the 1,000-goal
mark,” said the 20-year-old Paris St Germain forward.
“We will try to get as close as we can, but I think I’ll be
a long way off it at the end of my career.”
Mbappe has scored 32 goals in all competitions for PSG this
season, including 27 from only 24 Ligue 1 appearances.
Pele was only 21 when he won his second World Cup in 1962,
adding a third eight years later.
“There’s only one ‘King’ and he’s there,” said Mbappe.
“I’m just Kylian, I’m trying to do my best to help my team and my national
side.
“The comparisons are flattering but I know very well that I
will never do what he did.”
It was not the first time that Mbappe has had to temper
comparisons with Pele, after a rush to crown him a future footballing great
during the World Cup in Russia, where he scored four goals in total.
But the former Monaco striker insists that he is not focused on
becoming the best player of modern times.
“When Pele was playing, he didn’t think he wanted to be the
best player in history, he wanted to have fun, help his country and his club,
which he did,” he said.
“What I want is to help PSG, the France team and afterwards
it will be other people who tell you that you are the best.
“Everyone says that he is the best, but if you are (the
best), there’s no need to say it. It’s not a goal for me.”
Pele spent the majority of his career at Santos in his home
country, bar a spell in the United States with the New York Cosmos shortly
before his retirement.
He told Mbappe, who has been repeatedly linked with a move away
from PSG, that the key to smashing goalscoring records is playing in the very
best teams.
“People tend to say that goals are the most important thing
– I thank God for having scored so many in my career – but we must know that we
need to be well-supported, you can’t score on your own, you need good
teammates, that’s very important.”
Mbappe and his Paris teammates have only the French Cup left to
fight for this season, with the Ligue 1 title all but secured and their
Champions League campaign over after a humiliating defeat by Manchester United.
-AFP
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