Due to Mbappé's recent performance against Barcelona, Mbappé has once again received shouts that he's better than Messi was at 22. Today, I will do my best to debunk that myth, so without further ado, let's compare the two.
At 22 years old, Messi won his first UCL being the star man (and his second being an important player of his team), and later won the Ballon d'Or as well (he was the 2nd-best player the two years prior). It was his historic Sextete year, being the main man behind all of it. On the other hand, Mbappé hasn't won a UCL yet nor is he even near to getting a Ballon d'Or (I doubt he will get it this year too), and he's never gotten into the top 3 of the Ballon d'Or either.
He was also the best dribbler in the world at only 21, with 8.4 dribbles per 90 in the 2007/08 season according to StatsBomb, while Mbappé has never gotten over 4 dribbles per 90 (2005/06 Messi had 7.4 per 90 and 2006/07 Messi had 7.1 per 90).
Another important thing to note is that Mbappé plays in a considerably easier league (since he plays for PSG), so his G/A tallies are a bit inflated, and he also plays the Euro and WC qualifiers, which has lead to and will keep leading to him playing against much weaker nations much more often. And France's midfield is much better than Argentina's, so the ball can go easier to him and he can score more often as well. This also debunks the World Cup argument, since Mbappé's team was filled with great players.
In summary, Messi was already one of the best players in the world at 20 and was the best dribbler in the world at 21, while Mbappé hasn't reached top 3 in the world yet at 22 and he plays in an easier league. This shows that Messi was a better player than Mbappé was at his age.
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