‘SHARK’ MBAPPE CAN BE AS GOOD AS MESSI
Thomas Tuchel has piled praise on ‘shark’ Kylian Mbappe – saying he has the ability to compete with ‘the best’, such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Chelsea boss worked with the 2018 World Cup winner, 22, during his time at Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappe has been destined for greatness since his days as a teenager at Monaco.
But, in what felt like a changing of the guard, the Frenchman scored a sensational hat-trick as PSG thumped Messi’s Barcelona 4-1 at the Nou Camp in the Champions League last-16 first-leg last week.
And while Tuchel has called Mbappe a ‘super nice, intelligent and funny’ off the pitch, he’s claimed the striker’s shark-like mentality on it is what will make him an all-time great one day.
Tuchel told BT Sport: “If he wants to be there, he has to push them [Messi and Ronaldo] aside. That is clear.
“Scoring a hat-trick at the Nou Camp is a message and it’s what he demands of himself. It is his potential, it is what he has in him.
“He’s a shark, in his mentality… he wants to grab everything that he can have. This is the mentality that you need. And I mean it in a positive way because he’s a nice guy in private and in person.”