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France star footballer Kylian Mbappe will have lot of eyes on him when defending champion will take on Argentina on Sunday evening in the FIFA World Cup 2022 final, in Qatar. The 24-year-old will look to add yet another prestigious title in his cabinet as he had already etched his name in the history books by lifting the title in its previous edition.
While, Mbappe has five goals under his belt and will be strong contender for Golden Boot, Argentine goal-keeper Emiliano Martinez has lashed out at Mbappe over his claims that European football is more advanced than South American football ahead of the World Cup final. Notably, Mbappe made headlines earlier this year by claiming that South America is not at par with Europe.
“The advantage we have in Europe is that we play among ourselves with high-level matches all the time, such as the Nations League. When we arrive at the World Cup, we are ready, where Brazil and Argentina do not have this level in South America. Football is not as advanced as in Europe. That’s why at the last World Cups, its always the Europeans who win,” the Paris Saint German forward said in May in the context of World Cup 2022.
Ironically, PSG star will be up against a South American nation for the first time at the 2022 World Cup in the summit-clash. Ahead of the final clash, Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has responded to Mbappe’s insensitive comments. “He said that the level of South America is lower than the European level because he did not play there. If you do not have the experience then it is difficult to comment, but nothing was wrong with what he said. They know we are a world class team, and they respect us for that,” Martinez said.
Even, Mbappe’s PSG teammate Lionel Messi also noted that South American game is underestimated. “Many time we talked about that in Spain. When we returned from a qualifier, we told them. You don’t know how difficult it would be for you to qualify for the World Cup if you had to go there, at altitude, in the heat, in Venezuela,” Messi said.
