Lionel Messi has been in exceptional form in front of goal this season as he is the leading goalscorer in Europe's top five leagues, as he has been for the last two seasons, but his reign is being threatened by a 20-year-old by the name of Kylian Mbappe.
Although the age difference between the two is evident, the Frenchman has emerged as a natural and generational rival for the Barcelona captain.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward has netted 24 goals in Ligue 1 this season, bettered on the continent only by Messi's 25 in LaLiga Santander.
The two players are the talisman of their respective teams and icons of their countries; they fill stadiums on their own.
Mbappe's impressive numbers aren't that much of a surprise when you consider his meteoric rise over recent years.
At 18 he was the leading figure in a Monaco side that dumped Pep Guardiola's side out on their way to the Champions League semi-finals.
He made his Monaco debut at just 16 and his bow for France at 17, becoming the star figure in Didier Deschamps' World Cup-winning team last summer.
Meanwhile, Messi was 17 when he netted his first Barcelona goal against Albacete during the 2004/05 season.
If he was to outscore Mbappe this year, it would be his sixth Golden Boot.
Messi and Mbappe both come from humble backgrounds but have cemented themselves as symbols of their football clubs.
The distance between the two may be large in terms of age, but in terms of quality and goals, it is certainly narrowing.
dettaboss4l
228
I think Ligue 1 should be rated at 1.5 points for goal, what do you think?
datsama
131
yes mbappe is getting closer to messi when it comes to goals, but the problem is messi is not only a goal scorer he is also a creator so mbappe has a lot to do to narrow the gap between messi and him.
Putbcnopz
66
please barca fans messi didn't invent football, if a player is putting up numbers close to messi please appreciate him rather than hate, the spotlight is made for those performing, and if by the end of season he outscores messi, he deserves it, but until then, don't rule out anything, as premier league suggests, league performance is different from champs league and Lyon are playing well as Monaco years back, to brand them as farmers league is ignorant because league performance is not the ultimate, UCL is, the is why real Madrid is held in high regard despite not perform domestically
Rimdimnyz
55
meanwhile if messi is in league 1 he had already score 45 goals.It is easy to score in farmer league.
Koybcdekmz
52
Mbappe is the king of ligue 1 Messi is king of the world