PSG forward Kylian Mbappe on Monday admitted to being flattered after the Frenchman discovered that Barcelona ace Lionel Messi was keeping tabs of his exploits last season.
Taking advantage of Neymar’s minor appearances during the season, his team-mate tried his hardest to win the trophy for most goals in Europe. However, he had a lot of competition ahead of him and his stunning season was not enough to win him the top spot.
The European Golden shoe was ultimately won by Messi for a record sixth time before winning the sixth Golden Ball award as well.
However, it was the 2018 World Cup winner Mbappe who pushed the Argentina talisman to the limit.
The 20-year-old striker netted 33 goals in France’s premier division, thus, only falling three short of Messi’s tally of 36 goals in La Liga.
This close competition, however, has left Mbappe proud of himself.
“Instead of just putting my head under the covers and waiting calmly for the end of the season, I was trying to outdo myself,” Mbappe told France Football of his competition with Messi.
“I saw that I could maybe win the top goalscorer in Europe award. But, facing off against me, was Messi.
“I would score twice on a weekend, he would go and score three. I would score three, he would score four! It was so crazy that I spoke with Ousmane (Dembele) about it.
“’This is crazy! Is he doing this on purpose?’ He responded to me: ‘Of course he is looking at you!’
“I said to myself: ‘Ah, not bad, Messi is watching me…’ It is flattering to see that such a player is not overlooking you.”
Mbappe would be trying to outdo Messi this season, however, the Barcelona captain is ahead of Mbappe once again in 2019-20, with the South American boasting 13 league goals to his name while his French rival has mustered only 11.
Currently, the chart of leading goalscorer in Europe is being dominated by Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski who has 19 goals to his name.
