Belgium midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne has revealed that he had never even heard of France striker Kylian Mbappe less than 18 months ago but that he now expects football’s second‑most expensive player to be a world star for the next 15 years.

Although Mbappe was already widely regarded by scouts and managers as the outstanding teenage talent in Europe when Monaco knocked De Bruyne’s Manchester City out of the Champions League last year, the Belgian admitted that he had no knowledge of a player who would move that summer to Paris St‑Germain.

Two of the World Cup’s outstanding players will now go head‑to‑head in St Petersburg tomorrow morning, with De Bruyne aware of the threat that Mbappe will pose.

De Bruyne also admitted that it felt like a “now or never” moment for this Belgium squad who, after quarter‑finals together at the last two international tournaments, have already taken a step forward in beating Brazil last Saturday to reach the last four.

Belgium’s manager, Roberto Martinez says Belgium is a team, not individuals and that has been a process.

He says it is a group of people who want to share the vision of making Belgium football proud and to achieve something important.

De Bruyne said that the example of trailblazers such as Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany in forging careers abroad had been key.

Belgium will take on France at 6am tomorrow in the first semi-final of the FIFA World Cup while England will face Croatia at 6am on Thursday in the second semi-final.

[Source: www.telegraph.co.uk]

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