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IF England are going to win the World Cup they need to stop the quickest, most expensive and deadliest striker on the planet – Kylian Mbappe.The top scorer in Qatar can challenge Usain Bolt for pace and has raked in more than £100million this year.
If England are going to win the World Cup they need to stop the quickest, most expensive and deadliest striker on the planet – Kylian MbappeCredit: Getty
The young Mbappe with childhood hero and French World Cup legend Thierry Henry
The then 19-year-old striker celebrates with the World Cup trophy following France’s 2018 FIFA World Cup Final victory over CroatiaCredit: Getty
And the 23-year-old powerhouse is so important to France that President Emmanuel Macron begged him not to quit Paris St Germain for Real Madrid this summer.
But he is far from infallible.
Booed at this year’s Ballon d’Or football awards ceremony in Paris, the divisive young star has chinks in his armour, on and off the pitch.
Mbappe has missed a couple of crucial penalties, including one that saw France crash out of Euro 2020.
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He has reportedly fallen out with teammates, developed a Ronaldo-like superiority complex, demanded the use of private jets and has been accused of hypocrisy.

Mbappe made several ethical stands while at the same time turning down the move to Real Madrid this summer, after Paris St Germain’s Qatari owners — who are linked to alleged human rights abuses — offered him £156million to stay at the club.
This was a player who organised a national-team revolt against sponsorship by the fast food firm KFC and French gambling website BetClic.
Such double standards tarnished the image of a sporting genius who, during the 2018 World Cup final, high-fived an anti-Putin pitch invader from Russian protest group Pussy Riot in front of the despotic Russian president — a gesture for which he deserved a lot of credit. Mbappe also gave all his earnings from that controversial tournament to charity.
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Prior to the even more tarnished World Cup in Qatar, he said: “I want to be more than just the guy who shoots the ball and goes to his yacht and takes his money.
“Sometimes people think I have to just play football. But I think not. I think the world has changed.’’
Mbappe was born in the troubled Parisian suburb of Bondy, to Cameroonian dad Wilfried, a football coach, and mum Fayza, a handball player of Algerian heritage.
At six Mbappe witnessed disaffected youths torching patrol cars as they rioted against police harassment. But his parents knew from early on that their son had the talent to escape such problems.
By the time he was 11 a host of top teams wanted him to join their youth sides, with Real Madrid and Manchester City among them.
He had a trial for Chelsea three years later, but the club wanted him to return for a second try-out because they weren’t convinced by his willingness to defend.
Mbappe’s forceful mum Fayza, now 48, reportedly told the scout: “My boy won’t be coming back. If they want him, they have to take him now or in five years’ time they will be coming back to buy him for €50million (£43million).”
And some say that insult still rings in his ears today. A family friend said: “It’s quite possible that Kylian himself has a bit of a downer on what was said about him in England all those years ago.
“This might well give him a bit of extra determination to beat the English on Saturday.” With the Premier League ruled out, in 2015 Mbappe’s dad, now acting as his agent, decided he should sign with Monaco instead — which happens to be a tax haven. The young star received a signing bonus of £345,000.
Five years ago his mum almost convinced him to sign for Liverpool because she was a fan of the Merseyside team, but instead he decided to join PSG in France for £166million. 
Leaked documents revealed Mbappe asked for 50 hours of private plane use every year as part of the deal.
In Paris he showed how quick he could be, clocking up speeds of 23mph during one match.
That’s very close to the 26mph that Usain Bolt reached in his world record-breaking 100m sprint in 2009.
But what turned Mbappe into a global sports star at the age of 19 was when he became only the second teenager to score in a World Cup final, when France beat Croatia 4-2.
He was named the young player of the tournament for his four-goal tally.
After that, Mbappe was linked to a string of models such as French beauty Emma Smet and Belgian catwalk star Rose Bertram, but he preferred not to talk about his love life.
That is perhaps understandable, given the vile abuse he received from rival fans at this World Cup. Argentinian supporters in Qatar made rude references to him and a transgender model called Ines Rau, with whom he was spotted at the Cannes Film Festival this summer.
Young Kylian meets another idol, Cristiano RonaldoCredit: Viral Press
Mbappe’s dad, acting as his agent, decided he should sign with Monaco — which happens to be a tax haven
Mbappe was linked to a string of models such as Belgian catwalk star Rose Bertram, aboveCredit: rose_bertram/instagram
He has also been linked with French model Emma Smet, but he has preferred not to talk about his love lifeCredit: Getty
Mbappe has spent a fortune on a string of flash cars, including two Ferraris, and a huge apartment in Paris. At the same time he has set up a charitable foundation that aims to help 98 children — a nod to his birth year, 1998 — to achieve their dreams in fields such as maths.
He also congratulated England star Marcus Rashford on his efforts to give more free school meals to British children.
But that campaigning streak has caused tension during this World Cup. Mbappe did not want to be photographed near the tournament sponsor Budweiser’s logo because he disapproves of alcohol and he has refused to give media interviews.
Such demands would perhaps have more impact if it wasn’t for the fact that Paris St Germain are bankrolled by Qatar.
The oil and gas-rich nation has been criticised for locking up homosexuals and treating foreign workers so poorly that more than 6,000 are estimated to have died while working on the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.
Witch doctor
Mbappe has not uttered a word against his club’s paymasters, who view him as their poster boy.
This year he has also been caught up in an explosive row between France teammate Paul Pogba and his brother Mathias.
There were wild claims by Mathias that midfielder Paul had used a witch doctor to put a curse on Mbappe. Mathias tweeted to Mbappe: “It’s never good to have a hypocrite and a traitor near you.”
There are also rumours that Mbappe has lobbied against the tactics at PSG, who again failed to reach this year’s Champions League final, and campaigned for Brazilian superstar teammate Neymar to leave. 
When Mbappe missed a penalty in August the pair argued after another spot-kick was awarded by the referee.
Legendary French midfielder Emmanuel Petit hit out at Mbappe, saying: “He annoys everyone today. He makes it personal all the time. 
“He even puts himself above the institution. Has everything that has happened in recent months gone to his head?” 

The youngster denies interfering in team affairs, saying: ‘’That’s not my job. I don’t want to do this because I’m not good at it. I’m good on the pitch.”
What he doesn’t deny is wanting to join Real Madrid and holding contract negotiations with the Champions League title holders.
That led to him being barracked by PSG fans on more than one occasion.
But Macron rang the star striker to change his mind.
The President told him: ‘I want you to stay. I don’t want you to leave now. You are so important for the country.’
Throughout the protracted negotiations Mbappe has his mum standing in his corner.
After one journalist dared to say her son had reneged on the Real deal, she tweeted to him: ‘When we don’t know, we shut up.’
Coming into this World Cup he certainly had a lot to prove.
His tame spot kick in a crucial shoot-out against Switzerland in the Euros last summer meant that France crashed out.
Understandably, Mbappe was outraged by the racist hatred he received for missing the penalty.
So much so he even considered quitting the national side, saying: “I cannot play for people who think I’m a monkey”.
In Qatar, Mbappe has shut up his critics and the bigots.
Having scored five goals in this tournament, including two unstoppable efforts against Poland this week, the forward now has netted nine times at a World Cup.
That’s more than legends Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
It’s not surprising that France’s sports newspaper L’Equipe had a headline ahead of the quarter-final against Gareth Southgate’s side declaring “God save Notre King” alongside a photo of Mbappe.
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On Saturday, England fans will be praying that our goalie Jordan Pickford does the saving.
At six Mbappe witnessed disaffected youths torching patrol cars as they rioted against police harassmentCredit: Getty
The star’s father Wilfried Mbappe and mother Fayza LamariCredit: Getty
Mbappe pictured living the high life in CannesCredit: Goff
The star with model Emma SmetCredit: Mega
Celebrating a goal with Giroud against Poland on SundayCredit: Getty More

IF you’re English or you’re Welsh, the result of tonight’s match will be straightforward for you. It’ll either be great, or terrible.But what if you’re a bit of both?
If you’re English or you’re Welsh, the result of the match will be straightforward unless you’re bothCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun
But what if you’re a bit of both, or English and Croatian like me?Credit: Getty
What if your mum’s from Merthyr and your dad’s from Derby?
And what if they’re both from Bangor but you were born and bred in Bradford?
Or vice versa? Which way do you swing? Whose shirt will you be wearing?
If you’re in this situation, you have my sympathy.
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Having a dad from Brum and a mum from Zagreb has had many advantages, but for someone stressed out by football at the best of times, it’s been one more nightmare to negotiate.
I’ve not even examined this World Cup draw to see if and when England and Croatia could meet.
I just can’t go through another semi-final like the one I witnessed in Russia last time around.
How you deal with these things says a lot about your personality.
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Somebody bright and bubbly would see only positives. How fabulous is this?
I can’t lose! I’m guaranteed to be on the winning side either way!
Try as I might, I couldn’t find a way of framing it like this.
As far as I was concerned, however it turned out, I was going to be on the losing side.
I didn’t celebrate when England scored. I didn’t celebrate when Croatia equalised, or when they went ahead, or when the final whistle went.
I was deeply proud Croatia had got to the final but deeply upset that England hadn’t.
Back in the hotel where my BBC Radio colleagues and I were staying, I went to the bar to drink my joy/sorrow away.
But Chris Waddle kept glowering at me, so I took myself off to bed.
I had no energy to fight him, I’d worn myself out fighting myself.
I’m an England football fan through and through.
I remember like it was yesterday my grandad stopping the car outside a sports shop on the Hagley Road in Quinton in Birmingham.
I think the place — now long gone, like most small sports shops — was called Allsports.
Gravest of sins
He bought me the England shirt for that summer’s World Cup.
I tore the wrapping off and buried my head in the shirt.
I swear I can still smell it.
This was 40 years ago.
Then Croatia came along, with that chequered strip even neutrals seem enamoured of.
And so I fell in love all over again.
And as my Croatian nan used to say, he who sits between two stools will fall between them.
And she was right.
My backside’s still bruised from that night in Moscow.
It’s possible that the Anglo-Welsh among us won’t be tearing themselves apart like this.
Perhaps they took sides a long time ago and aren’t for changing.
This, after all, is what we demand of fans of football clubs.
Here the changing — or even division of — loyalties is the gravest of sins.
I watched England’s Gazza’s Tears semi-final in 1990 with a friend of mine called John.
A really lovely guy, apart from the fact that he was a Villa fan.
Then, going to watch West Brom at Arsenal several years later, I bumped into him.
What was he doing there?
He told me he was now a Gooner, as if I’d be pleased that he wasn’t a Villa fan any more.
Not a bit of it!
Reprehensible behaviour.
He’s a stranger to me now.
Hypocritically enough, I’m inclined to judge some international fans for their choices.
I’ve never been sure about otherwise completely English football fans who walk around in, say, Ireland shirts because their nan was from Tipperary.
Unacceptable.
This is obviously rich from someone born English, bred English, who sounds English and lives and works in England, who nevertheless owns up to divided loyalties.
To resolve what’s right and wrong here, I suggest a qualification system, similar, but stricter, than the one selectors of national teams have to abide by.
So tonight, in my book, a nan from Narberth or a grandad from Great Yarmouth isn’t qualification enough to support that country.
Only a parent will do.
Or if you were born there and spent a good part of your life there, I’ll let you off.
Otherwise pipe down.
On the other hand, this is all nonsense.
Because apart from being perfectly entitled to support whoever you like, I really don’t think it’s a choice you make.
You don’t choose your team, your team chooses you.
So whether it’s England or Wales which has chosen you to support them tonight, enjoy the game.

THE Z in Generation Z might just stand for zero, as in zero alcohol.Research suggests more than a quarter of the under-25s don’t touch booze.
This doesn’t surprise me. While problem drinking remains a massive issue, fewer people of all ages drink than you might think.
And of those who do drink, it’s amazing how many are drinking within the Government’s safe drinking guidelines of 14 units a week — that’s roughly seven pints of beer or 14 shots or a bottle and a half of wine, A WEEK!
The Z in Generation Z might just stand for zero, as in zero alcoholCredit: Alamy
Incredibly, to heavy drinkers like me, 70 per cent of drinkers ARE drinking within these guidelines. It’s among the other 30 per cent, the big boozers, that most of the problems arise.

Be tree ‘n’ easy at Xmas
I’M not one for too many rules about things, but here’s one I think we need to abide by: No Christmas trees to be erected before the first day of December.
It’s simple, it’s clear and it makes sense.
No Christmas trees to be erected before the first day of DecemberCredit: Alamy
I must admit, I thought December 1 was the first day of advent, but no, it turns out that’s the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day.
So you’d have been within your rights having yours up for two days now.
But what’s the rush? Take your time.
Apart from anything else it’ll save you bother at the other end when, by New Year’s Day, the poor thing’s bone dry and dropping needles everywhere.
Match after match
IT’S great being at a World Cup, but it’s almost as great watching it from home.
Match after match after match. Four a day!
I moaned long and hard about it being in Qatar and will continue to do so long into the future.
But I’m still loving every minute of it.
As for it being played at this time of year, well, how to put this?
All I’m saying is that I agree with a football fan who lowered his voice conspiratorially to say something to me without being overheard: “You know, I’m quite liking it in November.
It’s somehow easier to justify sitting indoors watching football all day. It suits me.”
Also, while our international players might disagree, I suspect we’re enjoying a mid-season break from whatever our club sides are putting us through.

Book these poncy refs
I’VE long given up moaning about footballers’ use of hair products.
That battle’s lost.
Match officials should not be officating games with these pooncy hair styles, they have a job to doCredit: Getty
If they must, they must. So be it.
And I’m developing a relaxed view of managers and coaches taking too much time with their hairdos, as they’ve generally grown out of gel use, having torn most of their hair out anyway.
But I’m drawing a line with match officials.
Some of their hair arrangements have no place in the game.
So it’s a yellow card from me to the Italian referee Daniele Orsato for all the care he’s put into teasing his quiff into shape.
And I’m afraid it’s a straight red for the Dutchman Danny Makkelie, left, and his slicked-back Ray Reardon tribute.
What’s wrong with these people?
Anyone would think they want to be the centre of attention
Pleased for her
THERE’S a brilliant German TV series on Sky Atlantic called Babylon Berlin.
It’s set in Berlin before the Second World War.
Even as the plot has moved well beyond my comprehension, I’ve stuck with it because it’s generally beautiful to look at, especially the star, Liv Lisa Fries.
I’m not saying I’m obsessed with this woman, but when Germany equalised against Spain on Sunday night, I found myself feeling pleased for her. I just want her to be happy.

No more shots of pretty fans (er like this one)
THE World Cup, quite rightly, should be all about inclusivity.
And part of that involves attracting the kind of people who don’t watch football week in, week out. I get that.
I cannot bear the shots of ‘fans’ in the crowds in Qatar who plainly aren’t engaged in the matter at handCredit: The Mega Agency
But I cannot bear the shots of “fans” in the crowds in Qatar who plainly aren’t engaged in the matter at hand.
Classically, this will be someone in a country’s colours who, despite their side hanging on desperately in the 99th minute, will still somehow find time to jump up and wave excitedly at the sight of themselves on the big screen.
There are also the long, lingering shots of the most beautiful women the cameramen (and they are doubtless men) can pick out.
I don’t mind so much if they look engrossed in the match, but please, no pouting to camera.
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It’s sexist to show this and it’s probably sexist of me to complain about it and it’s obviously sheer hypocrisy to publish examples of what I’m talking about on this page.
But, honestly, I’m dead against this kind of thing.
Recognisable?
THE tricky thing about being reasonably well known is gauging whether people recognise you or not.
Obviously, some do and some don’t.
It’s in a third category – those who can’t quite place you – where the fun lies.
In the past few weeks I’ve had three memorable ones.
“Were you my maths teacher at Malton School?” (I wasn’t.) “Are you John Motson?” (I’m not.)
And, best of all: “Did you used to drink with Dennis Waterman?” (I didn’t, but wish I had.) More

IT’S cam-ing home!The Iranian footie team are bound to have the hump after Camilla the psychic camel predicted a decisive win for the Three Lions.
Camilla’s owners Jenny and Vernon insist she’s never wrongCredit: Paul Tonge
The Sun on Sunday tasked ‘Mystic Millie’ with predicting the winner of tomorrow’s England vs Iran match.
She walked straight over to the St George’s Cross without hesitating – making Gareth Southgate’s team the one to beat.
Her estate agent owners Jenny and Vernon Moore, both 52, from Melton Mowbray, Leics, insist she’s “never wrong”.
Vernon said: “It’s the best possible omen for Gareth and the boys. Getting past the group stage is in the bag.
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“We asked her to choose between our and our opponents’ flags placed on easels a few yards in front of her and she marched straight up to the St George’s cross every time.”
Camels hold a special status in the World Cup host city of Qatar, where they are bred for the hugely popular sport of camel racing.
But unfortunately for the home nation, Camilla believes Ecuador will win the first match of the tournament tomorrow night.
Jenny said: “Camilla is very strong willed and always seems to know when it’s food time so we have absolute faith in her ability to predict World Cup results.”
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I HAVE been moaning non-stop for 11 years, 11 months and 17 days.That’s an awful lot of moaning.
The decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup has never felt rightCredit: Rex
Now it’s here we should embrace the World Cup, says Adrian ChilesCredit: aecanter
My moan-a-thon commenced on the afternoon of Thursday, December 2, 2010 — the day Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup.
To be fair, for the first eight years I also had the award of the 2018 World Cup to Russia to moan about.
But ever since that one was done and dusted, I’ve been able to focus my fury ­exclusively on Qatar. And I’m not the only one.
Just about everyone else has weighed in, with good reason, on more or less every single aspect of it.
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The human rights record of the Qatari regime; the carbon footprint; the ­timing . . . you name it.
Fifa has been good enough to give us plenty to go on.
More came thick and fast this week as the hordes of journalists arrived in Doha and started whingeing about the pricey pints and soaring ­temperatures.
To be fair, if I was lucky enough to be there, I’d ­probably have the nerve to be having a whinge of my own.
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But really, what else was anybody expecting in a dry state in the Middle East?.
Even some fans lucky enough to be there were at it.
Some old boy was on the radio saying how he was being forced to fly in to watch every Wales match from nearby Dubai. Cue an orchestra of tiny violins.
I think we call these gripes First World problems nowadays.
Because the truth of the ­matter is — as ever — that the vast majority of fans won’t be at the World Cup.
DESERVE BETTER
They’ll be where they ­usually are every four years.
They’ll be somewhere far more familiar, where it costs much less for a bevvy and you can drink it pretty much whenever you like.
They call it home . . . or the pub.
It’s time to blow the whistle on the Qatar complaints. Enough now. It’s happening.
Let’s hold our noses and enjoy the party.
This is what I’ve resolved to do, having frightened myself working out that I’ll probably only experience another six World Cups in my lifetime.
And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Fifa or anyone else ruin any one of them for me.
Sepp Blatter announced Qatar would host the World Cup way back in 2010Credit: AFP
If I make it to 80, my last major tournament will be the 2046 World Cup, held God knows where. Mars, probably.
I’ll be making the trip, no matter what the political ­situation is there.
I feel sorry for the players. Extravagantly paid they might be, living lives of great luxury, but time stops for no man and they’ll be lucky to have the chance of playing in any more than three World Cups.
If we’re not careful we’ll have them feeling like soldiers sent off to fight in an ­unpopular war, unheralded and uncelebrated.
They deserve better from us. None of this is their fault.
And yet they are now the only ones who can change everything about our attitude to this World Cup.
As the old saying goes, when your team’s winning matches, even the pies taste good.
Yes, they can turn it all round for us, and we’ve got to start getting right behind them to help them do it.
A good start for our boys, followed by progress in the knockout stages accompanied perhaps by a few late dramas,, and nigh-on 12 solid years of moaning will all be forgotten.
When it does, you can bet everyone over there will stop their whining.
They’ll be popping corks on million pound bottles of ­champagne. Maybe.
My mind goes back to ­something Gordon Strachan said to me at the World Cup of 2014.
We were broadcasting from Copacabana Beach.
Luis Suarez biting Giorgio Chiellini was one of the World Cup’s craziest momentsCredit: Pixel8000
The story of the day had been Luis Suarez trying to make a snack out of Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.
One player actually biting another? ­Disgraceful!
The Uruguayan was in a world of trouble. A lifetime ban was even mooted.
I suggested to Gordon that Suarez might never play again.
“Of course he will,” laughed Gordon. “Because there is no morality in football.”
He was right. It’s the worst thing about the game, but also the best.
Yes, terrible transgressions of decent, human behaviour may be forgiven or overlooked, because brilliant football trumps everything.
The Suarez-Chiellini chompfest is a case in point.
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Chiellini himself wrote in his memoir that not only did he forgive Suarez the bite, he actually admired him for it.
Football will always win out. It’s bigger than all of us, as we’ll see in the coming weeks.
It’s bigger than Fifa or Qatar or Russia or whichever referee or players offend our sensibilities this time round.
Once it gets going, I believe we’ll all get going.
And once England get going, the sky will be the limit.
Qatar — quite unjustly — will feel like the most normal place on Earth, and back home it’ll be like winter isn’t happening.
But we, the fans at home, need to do our bit to get England out of the starting blocks.
Ahead of the women’s Euros this summer I had a hunch our team was going to do something special.
For once — and I mean once — in my football life, I was right. (I had to be right sooner or later. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.)
Almost out of superstition, I hereby repeat the words I wrote in The Sun about England’s women before that tournament started.
I said that it was important to get behind them from the beginning, because it would be no good jumping on the bandwagon when they got to the final and won it.
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So, in the spirit of that, I pray to you, myself and all other interested parties: Let the moaning stop and the cheering commence as a ­joyous English march to the final begins.
Bring it on.
The nation will be backing England to end their long wait for the trophyCredit: AFP More