Euro 2024: Portugal Vs France, Mbappe Wants To Follow In The Footsteps Of The Idol Ronaldo

Kylian Mbappe has ambitions to follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo (Instagram/@equipedefrance).

JAKARTA - The Euro 2024 quarter-finals will bring together Portugal vs France at the Volkspark Stadium, Germany, on Saturday, July 6, 2024, at 02.00 WIB.

In addition to competing for tickets to the semifinals, the match will also be an important moment for Kylian Mbappe who will meet his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Both teams have prestige because they are favorite to win Euro 2024. In addition, both of them are supported by a row of players with a winning mentality as well as labeled stars.

The Portuguese camp has a superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, whose achievements are unquestionable. Not only having CR7, but A Selecao also has a number of the best players, such as Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira alias Pepe, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix, Rafael Leao, Joao Cancelo, and many more.

It didn't stop there, under the Portugal crossbar also had a successful Diogo Costa to become the Man of the Match in the Portugal vs Slovenia match in the last 16 of Euro 2024.

The French side is no less classy. Les Bleus is also strengthened by a number of star players, such as Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Kingsley Coman, Benjamin Pavard, N'Golo Kante, and a number of other names.

Not surprisingly, the Portugal vs France duel is a two-team battle with the second and third most expensive squads at Euro 2024.

France is second in the most expensive team at Euro 2024 with a value of 1.073 trillion pounds. Just below, there is Portugal with a value of 898 million pounds.

As is known, England is the top team in terms of squad value of 1.217 trillion pounds.

Apart from the issue of the fighting of the stars, the Portugal vs France meeting became the moment of Mbappe's encounter with his idol, Ronaldo.

In fact, Mbappe's career cannot be separated from Ronaldo's shadow. Although he has often been on the same field and became an enemy in the match, on various occasions Mbappe admitted that he was nervous if he had to fight his idol.

For him, Ronaldo is not only a person who has been idolized since childhood, but the best motivator in his career in football until now.

Mbappe must overcome his admiration if he wants to follow in Ronaldo's footsteps. So far, the 25-year-old has never lifted a Euro trophy with France.

The last time France won the Euros was in the 2000 edition and at that time Mbappe was still two years old.

This time, Mbappe had to lead France to defeat Portugal for the sake of ambition to follow Ronaldo's steps. This is proof that every step in football is inspired by CR7.

You see, at the club level, Mbappe has inaugurated himself anchored to Real Madrid, just like Ronaldo did after defending Manchester United.

However, at the level of the country, especially the Euros, Mbappe must match Ronaldo's achievements.

Moreover, France was favored in the record of the meeting against Portugal. According to 11v11, Les Bleus won 19 times and drew three times, while the remaining six matches belonged to Portugal.

The problem is, France's appearance has not been convincing so far. Didier Deschamps troops need to improve so that they can fight Portugal optimally.

France has only scored three goals from four matches throughout the group round and the last 16. Aggressivity plus finishing is still a major problem.

If they can complete the homework, it is not impossible that France can go to the semifinals. The reason is, from the defense side, so far they have appeared convincing and have the opportunity to reduce the aggressiveness of Portugal.