Kylian Mbappe has been warned that he has to deliver against Manchester City when he wants to land the coveted balloon d'Or trophy for the first time.
That is the verdict of Steve McManaman, who will look while Mbappe and Real Madrid bump into one of his former clubs on Tuesday evening for a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Both Los Blancos and City did not succeed in taking one of the top eight places in this year's new look Champions League format. And that means that one of the largest teams of the competition will crash in the play-offs, which will take place in the coming week.
Real Madrid will look at Mbappe to inspire them in the first stage at Etihad – and McManaman says it is crucial that he uses the biggest games if he wants to win the Ballon d'Or for the first time.
“Everything is at stake for both [teams]And individually, everything is at stake for the players, “McManaman told The Mail.
“If you want personal titles, if you are Kylian Mbappe and you want to be a balloon d'Or winner in your first year in Madrid, they have to win [the Champions League].
“Likewise, for individual prizes for the players of Manchester City, Erling Haaland has not scored against them. This time he will stand against the inexperienced defenders, so he must also make a big game for himself. So there are many little riddles there. “
Although City has passed a fairly disastrous Champions League campaign so far, which ends dangerously close to the elimination places, they will welcome a Real Madrid side that experiences a defensive crisis.
And with a large number of recognized names that are absent when Haaland and co enter the field, McManaman says that the injury lists of Real City's own misery place in perspective, with the Premier League champions who want to approve their disappointing Premier League campaign by a te Win by winning a second Champions League -Kroon.
He added: “They meet a real madrid absolutely defensive decimated. Dani Carvajal is out, [David] Alaba is out [Antonio] Rudiger is out, Eder Militao is out.
“City cannot necessarily complain about their injury problems when you can rinse a list with defenders who miss the game so much.”
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