Kylian Mbappe opened his Club World Cup account in style with a stunning overhead kick in Real Madrid’s thrilling 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund – but the French star has his work cut out to displace one of the game’s brightest young prospects from Los Blancos’ starting line-up.
Having missed the group stage with gastroenteritis, Mbappe came off the bench against Dortmund for his second appearance of the competition.
He marked the occasion with an acrobatic stoppage-time finish from Arda Guler’s delivery to restore Madrid’s two-goal lead after Maximilian Beier had given the German side late hope.
But Mbappe’s team-mate Gonzalo Garcia, who had scored or assisted in every game prior to Saturday’s quarter-final, continued his scintillating form with only 10 minutes on the clock when he met another Guler cross with a sweetly struck first-time volley.
The 21-year-old is now level on four competition goals with Benfica’s Angel di Maria and Al-Hilal’s Marcos Leonardo, whose sides have been eliminated from the tournament.
“I love the finish – he opens up his foot to put it in the far post, as opposed to putting it back to the near post,” former England international Andros Townsend told DAZN. “It really is an expert finish.
“The fact that at the last minute he has opened up his foot up, gave the goalkeeper no chance.”
Garcia’s purple patch has given manager Xabi Alonso a welcome selection headache as Madrid turn their attention towards Wednesday’s semi-final showdown with reigning European champions Paris St-Germain, who beat Bayern 2-0 in Atlanta earlier on Saturday.