Kylian Mbappé has already scored six times in this season's knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League and the Paris Saint-Germain forward has a formidable body of work across his five seasons in the competition.
Still only 22, Mbappé has scored 27 goals in 43 Champions League matches for Monaco and PSG and the World Cup winner has also weighed in with 15 assists. Since first featuring in the Champions League as a 17-year-old substitute for Monaco against Bayer Leverkusen in September 2016, Mbappé has gone from strength to strength and his form could well take PSG to their first Champions League crown.
MONACO EMERGENCE
Mbappé had turned 18 by the time he scored his first Champions League goal, a stunner for Monaco in their 5-3 loss at Manchester City in the first leg of the Round of 16 that catapulted him to global renown. He followed up with a goal in the second leg as well, and then hit three goals across the two legs of the quarter-final victory over Borussia Dortmund. Mbappé also scored in the semi-final against Juventus and by then had become the hottest young star in the world game.
Watch: Mbappé's double in the first leg of the Borussia Dortmund quarter-final
PSG CONFIRMATION
Mbappé scored in each of his first four Champions League knockout matches - the first player to achieve the feat - but his goalscoring knack in those massive games deserted him following his 2017 move to PSG, at least until the current 2020-2021 season.
Mbappé has 14 goals in 22 group stage matches for the French champions and in October 2019, frustrated at being left out of the starting line-up by Thomas Tuchel, he plundered a hat-trick off the bench at Club Brugge - the first sub in over a decade to score a triple in the Champions League.
Knockout matches, however, were proving a different story for Mbappé in Paris colours. His goal at Manchester United in the Round of 16 of the 2018-2019 season was his only strike in nine knockout matches for the capital club until his ongoing miraculous campaign.
BARCELONA HERO
Watch: Mbappé's Nou Camp hat-trick
Having gone goalless in the knockout stage as PSG reached the final in 2019-2020, better was expected of Mbappé as the club attempted to go one better and the attacker responded in style with a stupendous hat-trick in the first leg of the Round of 16 clash with Barcelona. The hero commented: "It's very good, I'm happy. I've always anted to give the best account of myself in the PSG shirt, as it's a shirt that's close to my heart. I've always given everything and sometimes I've not had the luck. I will never hide and tonight the hard work paid off."
BIG AT BAYERN
Watch: Mbappé's double at Bayern Munich
Mbappé also netted in the return leg against Barcelona and followed it up with a remarkable double in the 3-2 quarter-final first leg win at Bayern Munich in a rematch of last season's final. 19 of Mbappé's 27 Champions League goals have come in away matches as the forward is an expert at exploiting space and he is well on course to putting last season's disappointment behind him.
After his Bayern double salvo, Mbappé said: "It's like I said in Barcelona, I love these sort of games. I like playing in these matches and being decisive. Mauricio Pochettino wanted me and Neymar to cut off Joshua Kimmich's passing lines. He wanted me to get in behind in order to stretch Bayern and make them run, because they don't like doing that."
BETTER THAN MESSI AND RONALDO
At Mbappé's age, Lionel Messi had 18 Champions League goals to his name and Cristiano Ronaldo a mere three goals. Maintain his scoring form and Mbappé could well find himself following in that golden duo's footsteps as a Champions League winner.
