Eight years ago it was a boy from Monaco, named Kylian Mbappé, who aroused unusual curiosity at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. They said that he was a prodigy, that he was the reason for the French’s enthusiasm for orbital glory. And they were not wrong.
At the age of 19 he was crowned in that event in which he was Argentina’s executioner (he scored two great goals) and finished with a balance of 4 goals, an assist and the award for best young player in his hands.
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Eight years later it is another young man, Lamine Yamal, who arouses that same curiosity, although for now he has not finished achieving a 2026 World Cup as expected due to injuries. But don’t get complacent because still, at the same 19 years old as his rival, he can be the great figure of the event in Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Duel of titans in the World Cup semi-final
Both appear this Tuesday at the meeting in Dallas with an enormous challenge: they are football and even emotional leaders of France and Spain, the two candidates for the title who will star in the semifinal in the duel that many thought would be the last day, in New Jersey, on July 19.
The Frenchman, now 27 years old, has a market value of 180 million euros, according to Transfermarkt. The Spaniard, with just turned 19, exceeds 200 million. But that’s not where the real pulse is.
Kylian Mbappé Photo:EFE
Previous confrontations between Mbappé and Yamal
This will be the eleventh duel that Mbappé and Yamal will play, the third duel at the national team level between the two and the one that can unbalance the head-to-head situation that, surprisingly, is currently led by the youngest.
Yamal won eight of those previous duels, and Mbappé only two, counting the commitments with their clubs in LaLiga, Super Cup, Copa del Rey and Champions League 2024.
Lamine Yamal Photo:EFE
The first time was in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Champions League between PSG and Barcelona, with a win for each and a semifinal for the French club. But then Yamal raised his level and other rounds came that left happiness for the boy of Moroccan descent.
In duels in Spain the theme is like this: in LaLiga Yamal has won with Barcelona 0-4 in 2024 1 goal from Yamal), 4-3 in 2025 (1 from Yamal and 3 from Mbappé), and the Frenchman with Real Madrid 2-1 in 2025; In the Copa del Rey it was a 3-2 victory for the Spanish (two assists and a goal from Mbappé) and in the Super Cup it was a 2-5 victory for Yamal (one goal for each).
Already at the national team level, the most remembered duel between the two is the final of Euro 2024, when Yamal started and scored the goal of the partial 1-1 tie, when Mbappé provided the assist for Randal Kolo Muani’s 0-1. The victory was 2-1, with a goal from Dani Olmo.
Kylian Mbappé Photo:Getty Images via AFP
The other match was in the Nations League, a 5-4 victory for Spain against France, with 2 goals from Yamal and a goal and assist from Mbappé.
Of course, it must be said that France and Spain have never faced each other in a direct elimination duel until now. This semi-final will be the first time.
The situation, however, now seems favorable to the French star, one of the best players not only of his team but of the 2026 World Cup.
Mbappé’s speed, power, dribbling and unmarking have already allowed him to score 8 goals, leading along with Messi the fight for the scoring throne and with others like Bellingham and Kane breathing down his neck.
The filtered passes proposed by Michael Olise between the lines and towards his back will play in his favor. Or the entrances on the sides of Ousmane Dembélé or Bradley Barcola or Désiré Doué.
Lamine Yamal Photo:Getty Images via AFP
Yamal, on the other hand, has not responded to the great expectations that existed in the run-up to his first major senior competition, as an untimely muscle injury affected him just a month before the start and he has had to spend more time recovering than showing off. Even so, in North America he aspires to be the fourth youngest player to lift the long-awaited trophy to surpass Kylian himself in the ranking.
In Yamal’s favor will be a very solid team in its rear zone, which will take pressure off the offensive generation, and partners like Oyarzabal, Olmo, and the revelation, Pedro Porro, with Rodri as orchestra director in the middle.
“I don’t think it’s the coach’s fault that he doesn’t score five goals. These are things of the game, I’m not worried. I’ve seen Spain eliminated from the World Cup, and that hasn’t happened yet; that’s the only important thing and I hope he scores another goal tomorrow,” said Yamal, laughingly thanking all the journalists who attended the celebration of his 19th birthday.
The Barcelona forward, who turned 19 this Monday, said that he does not feel pressure despite the fact that all the spotlight is directed at him. “There is no pressure, I play as I know how and I will never play better or worse than I know. I always give everything and when you give everything you don’t feel pressure,” he said, without a hint of regret for not having scored all the goals that the fans and the betting houses expected.
For Mbappé it will be the moment of his consolidation after that emergence in Russia 2018, and now he aims to establish goalscoring records never before seen in the history of the World Cup.
Mbappé feels supported by a team full of talent that complements him even when things have gotten more difficult.
He has learned to show off his best suit when it comes to saving France and taking it, hand in hand, to the final of Qatar 2022, but he has also learned that, as he said after the hard-fought victory against Paraguay, sometimes “we have to put our hands in shit.”
Both Mbappé and Yamal are ready for anything, knowing that one of the great figures that everyone has gone to see in the 2026 World Cup is going to say goodbye to the dream in the battle of talent that is planned in Dallas.
Will the French experience win in these instances or the Spanish rebellion in this definition in which no one dares to give a clear favorite? After all, the dream final of this championship was brought forward to the semi-final.
What is clear is that there are two figures who will monopolize the spotlight and that the fight between the two, which is just beginning, will surely have a new owner of the game.
Jenny Gamez
Sports Editor
@JennyGamezA
