SPORTS
I’ll never match Pele’s goals tally, Mbappe says
World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe has often been compared to Pele but the Paris St-Germain (PSG) striker does not think he will match the Brazil great’s scoring tally during his career.
Mbappe, who became only the second teenager to score in a World Cup final as France beat Croatia 4-2 last year, has so far netted 103 goals in his career.
Pele claims he scored 1,025 goals during his playing career.
“Even with the goals in playgrounds, goals on the PlayStation, I can never equal 1,250 (sic) goals,” said the 20-year-old as he met Pele at a sponsors’ event in Paris.
“It’s really a long way off. I’ll try and get as close as I can, but I think I’ll still be a long way off by the end of my career.
Pele, who spent his career with Santos before a two-year spell at New York Cosmos in the mid-70s, wished Mbappe luck.
“I hope that he gets there. To 1,000 it’s okay,’’ the three-times World Cup winner said, “because I have one thousand and twenty five! If he gets one thousand, it’s okay.”