Imagine Messi vs Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi (Twitter @psg_english)

JAKARTA - Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both play for Paris Saint Germain. The two are partners and compete at the French League giants. However, in the 2022 World Cup final, they will be enemies.

Both were captivating and inspiring during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which had their club splurging big on buying the world's greatest players, including them and Neymar.

Now the two players of different ages are fighting in the top part of the biggest global football tournament which was initially filled with controversy but then vanished as soon as this tournament started.

Referring to Antara, Friday, the battle between France and Argentina was not only a classic match between two football poles, which have both held the trophy that symbolizes global football supremacy twice. This match also proves who between Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe is the greatest.

Messi has participated in four World Cups and this trophy always escapes the reach of the superstar.

Now in his fifth edition and a year after he finally put a major tournament trophy with his national team, the Copa America, in his cupboard, Messi has the opportunity to realize his lifelong dream with the 2022 Team Tango squad which he says has a vision and is good at reading the game.

As for Mbappe, this is his second World Cup. He is poised to be one of a handful of men bidding to emulate Pele's generation of back-to-back world champions.

The two superstars differ greatly in age. Messi is 35 years, and Mbappe is 23 years. But on the gridiron, the age difference was invisible.

This is because they both look charming. They amazed people with the way they find space, how they handle the ball, how good they are at tricking opponents, and their vision in charting the direction of the game.

They are both just as creative. There is only a slight difference between the two, including the matter of running speed.

Messi, who has been eaten by age, is certainly not as fast as before. In contrast, with a running speed of 35.3 km per hour against Poland, Mbappe along with Kamaldeen Sulemana, Nico Williams, David Raum, Antonee Robinson, Daniel James, Achraf Hakimi, and Ismaila Sarr is a fantastic sprinter.

But in terms of creativity, Messi is no less than Mbappe. Maybe even above it.

The last two matches of the 2022 World Cup proved the nobility of their creativity when Messi did it against Croatia, while Mbappe was against Morocco.

Messi set up Argentina's third goal in the semi-final against Croatia in a sensational fashion. But his maestro was quickly matched by Mbappe, who also contorted five opposing players before setting up France's second goal against Morocco.