Aston Villa right-back Matty Cash has given his verdict about how to stop Kylian Mbappe but could not say much about Lionel Messi. He believes that you cannot really do anything about Mbappe.
In an interview with Sport Bible, Cash was asked “Going on to playing Kylian Mbappé, Like, what’s the game plan when you face against the caliber of Kylian Mbappe?”
He replied: “Yeah. We watch videos obviously. A few days leading up to the France game, we watched videos of him and he was lightning. I think the game where he came on against… He didn’t start a game ’cause they’d qualified already, I think and he comes on and he ripped it up, and we watched the end of that. And it was like, “Wow!”
And then on the day of the game, I just sat in my room and watched clips of him. Just sort of, how am I gonna stop him, really?
The presenter asked if it was Mbappe’s pace that makes him unstoppable, “Is that what it is with him? Is it the pace? He is lightning. Like, you know, obviously he’s a fantastic footballer with a brilliant eye for goal and so many attributes. But if it’s one thing from your perspective. Is it the pace?”
Cash replied, “Yeah… Mbappe’s another level. Yeah. Yeah. He just shoots off the go and you can’t actually do anything.”
Not Lionel Messi, but Kylian Mbappe is the toughest player Matty Cash faced in the World Cup
The presenter asked Cash, “And who’s the toughest player you faced at the World Cup? Just generally. Was it one of those two? Mbappe or Messi, or…”
Cash replied, “Mbappe, yeah. Yeah. Mbappe, yeah.”
On being asked if Mbappe was the toughest by far, Cash said, “Yeah, definitely. I’d say he’s the toughest. Yeah.”
Cash, who plays for Poland, faced both Messi and Mbappe at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He faced the same fate against both players.
On December 1, 2022, Argentina defeated Poland 2-0 in the group stage with goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez. Later, in the Round of 16, France defeated Poland 3-1 on December 4, 2022, with goals coming from Olivier Giroud (1) and Mbappe (2).