Before facing Portugal in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, Kylian Mbappe had not scored in any of the four previous encounters against Cristiano Ronaldo in official club and national team competitions.
On February 14, 2018, Mbappe first met his idol Ronaldo. The match took place in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 at the Bernabeu.
Real Madrid finished second in Group H, while PSG topped Group B. However, Real Madrid dominated the direct clashes. Ronaldo scored twice and Marcelo added another goal to secure a 3-1 victory for Real Madrid. Adrien Rabiot scored the only goal for PSG. Three weeks later in the return leg, Mbappe remained scoreless as Ronaldo and Casemiro’s goals helped Real Madrid win 2-1 in Paris. Edinson Cavani scored PSG’s consolation goal.
Their third encounter was in the UEFA Nations League group stage on October 11, 2020, in Paris.
France and Portugal drew 0-0, with neither star scoring. In the return leg on November 14, Mbappe was absent, and N’Golo Kante’s goal secured a 1-0 victory for France in Lisbon. Their fourth official meeting was during Euro 2021 Group F.
Once again, Mbappe remained relatively quiet while Ronaldo and Karim Benzema each scored braces for their respective teams. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, sending both France and Portugal to the round of 16.
After four official encounters, Mbappe finally scored against Ronaldo in a friendly match on January 19, 2023, in Saudi Arabia, where PSG faced Al Nassr.
Mbappe’s goal came from a penalty in the 60th minute, while Ronaldo scored twice in a losing effort as Al Nassr fell 4-5. Mbappe has been a long-time admirer of Ronaldo, dating back to when he was 14 years old in 2013, displaying his idol’s photos all over his room.
Despite a broken nose suffered in the opening match against Austria, Mbappe managed to score one goal at Euro 2024, a penalty in the 1-1 draw against Poland in the final group stage match.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, hadn’t scored in the first four matches of Euro 2024, despite leading in shots taken (20 attempts) in the tournament so far.
The quarter-final match between Portugal and France will take plac
e on July 5 at Volkspark Stadium in Hamburg, Germany.
