‘I’ve only seen this seriousness in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’ – Javier Pastore praises former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappé | OneFootball

Javier Pastore (34) has praised former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé (25) for his mentality, which he compared to that of Lionel Messi (36) and Cristiano Ronaldo (39) during an interview with La Nación.

Mbappé and Pastore shared one season together at PSG. The pair played together on 20 occasions during the 2017/18, campaign – Mbappé’s first after completing a move from formative club AS Monaco. Pastore, who is currently without a club, departed at the end of that season, whilst Mbappé now prepares to do the same. The France captain has already told the club’s president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, that he will be leaving the Parc des Princes upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the season.

In an interview with La Nacion, former Argentina international Pastore revealed that he has met Mbappé since Les Bleus’ World Cup final defeat at the hands of Argentina in December 2022, and shared the contents of that meeting.

“I saw Kylian a few months after the World Cup final. I was in the dressing room with him, Neymar and Messi. I congratulated him on his World Cup and he responded: ‘Noooo, it’s this son of a b***h Messi who beat us in the World Cup…’ He said it whilst laughing as if to say that Messi had won it all on his own,” he began.

Pastore then went on to praise Mbappé’s mentality. “I spoke to Kylian a lot. He is a very focused guy; he lost a final and the next day, he was already thinking about the next thing that he was going to win. He has an incredible mentality. I know him very well; I have a very good relationship with him. He’s a winner. He fights 100%. I am surprised by his seriousness at his age. I have only seen this seriousness in Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi,” said the Argentinian.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle