“I’ve never seen a bigger ego in my life”

When Lionel Messi greets Kylian Mbappé ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final, it’s fair to say we won’t see the same warmth displayed by France’s Achraf Hakimi.

Mbappe was thrilled about who he called his best friend in football during France’s 2-0 win over Morocco. First, they exchanged their secret handshake before posing with each other’s shirts after the match.

But that’s not the case with all of his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates, far from it.

Mbappé and Messi are the only two active PSG players left in Qatar of the 11 who arrived and will battle for their place at the pinnacle of sport on Sunday.

Surprisingly, however, they have already fought a similar battle in Paris despite managing to create football’s most fearsome front line alongside Brazilian Neymar.

When Messi joined PSG as a free agent from Barcelona in 2021, it was admitted that Neymar’s efforts to escape his shadow in Spain had proved not only futile but backfired.

Neymar is now 30 and less focused on his first Ballon d’Or and more on his second Champions League alongside Messi, but that may not be the case with Mbappé.

The 23-year-old superstar has already made a name for himself earning a higher salary than the two Paris football giants and has previously struggled to make his position clear.

There was no doubt about that final season. Messi struggled enormously in his first season in France, recording his lowest goals and assists since 2007, while Neymar stepped aside to let Mbappe take the lead at home and in Europe.

Things are different this season, however, and it only became apparent two games later.

PSG started the season with 10 goals in two games and Messi already looked like a different player than in the 2021/22 campaign but Mbappé had to put him back in his place.

After the Frenchman had already missed a penalty in a 5-2 win over Montpellier, PSG earned another and Mbappé was unhappy that Neymar thought it was his turn.

En route to the Brazilian, the Argentinian passed Messi and glared at his teammate, a thrill matched by a number of former pros including Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney.

“A 23-year-old player is committed to pushing Messi,” he told Depar Sports. “I’ve never seen a bigger ego in my life.”

The course had already been set in the run-up to the season, when Mbappé was asked about South American teams at the World Cup.

“Argentina and Brazil have no comparable rivals in South America,” the Frenchman told TNT.

“Football is not as developed as in Europe, that’s why the last world champions were European.”

Despite the obvious gripes, things seemed to fall back into place in the next game as Messi and Neymar provided the assists for all three of Mbappé’s hat-trick goals against Lille and celebrated jovially.

But Mbappe, last season’s top Ligue 1 assistant, failed to exact revenge for his Argentina teammate, a fact that infuriated some fans before that trend was finally broken in late October, 12 games into the season , against Ajaccio.

Despite that rare gift, Mbappé has still scored just one league goal for Messi this season, compared to six in the other direction, while even finer detail has arguably gained the upper hand.

Messi and Mbappe have both passed the ball to Neymar and Marco Verratti more often than to each other this season as the so-called ‘MNM’ front line hasn’t turned out to be the match made in heaven many expected.

However, the playing field is evenly leveled internationally, with both top scorers with five caps and heading into the final as key men for their countries.

However, Mbappé hasn’t scored since the quarter-finals as Messi is preparing for another Ballon d’Or – a fact that could rile Mbappé far more than Neymar and spark a stunning clash between two titans.