- Mbappe scored a hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League
- 26-year-old’s second goal against City set new goal record
- World Cup winner has achieved the record before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
Kylian Mbappe made history during Real Madrid’s 3-1 Champions League victory over Manchester City on Wednesday night.
The World Cup winning forward was at his breathtaking best, snatching the soul of every City defender who was foolish enough to step within six yards of him. Mbappe’s hat-trick against Pep Guardiola’s beleaguered Premier League champions was a ruthless triumverate of finishing prowess. And a record breaking one, at that.
When Mbappe sent Josep Gvardiol careering off camera so he could add his mercurial second of the evening, Mbappe officially reached 500 career goal contributions (358 goals, 142 assists). At just 26 years and 61 days of age, the former Monaco man became the youngest ever player to reach that landmark.
Lionel Messi had been the previous record holder, but he was a month older than Mbappe when he hit the same milestone. Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, the man with the most goals in professional football history, didn’t hit 500 contributions until he was 28.
The hat-trick against City – which took European Champions Real through to the last 16 of the Champions League – delivered further proof that Mbappe has settled into his natural rhythm at the Bernabeu after a difficult first couple of months in the Spanish capital. With 27 goals and three assists in 37 outings for Los Blancos, the former PSG forward is thriving under Carlo Ancelotti and delivering the sort of back page domianting performances that will live long in the memory of Madridistas everywhere.
Mbappe arrived at Real from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer during the summer of 2024. He spent seven years in the French capital, scoring 256 goals in 308 appearances and winning six Ligue Un titles along the way.
And the youngest 500 goal contributions record isn’t the only piece of history Kylian Mbappe could realistically make this season, either. With two knockout Champions League hat-tricks to his name, the Real Madrid number nine is only two behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who leads the way with four. Given the form Mbappe is in and the quality of the team around him, the Frenchman could have plenty of opportunities to double his hat-trick tally before the end of May.
As if all that history and potential history isn’t enough, Mbappe also became the first ever player to score a European hat-trick at both the Bernabeu and Camp Nou, adding his destruction of City to his 2021 pulverising of Barcelona.
(h/t talkSPORT)
