Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland can reach the levels of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to former Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Mohamed Sissoko.
Both PSG forward Mbappe and Manchester City striker Haaland have proven to be highly talented players with phenomenal goalscoring records in recent seasons.
Haaland scored 67 goals in his two and a half seasons in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, and has subsequently lit up the Premier League since his transfer to City – scoring 14 goals in 10 outings in all competitions for Pep Guardiola's side.
Meanwhile, PSG's main man Mbappe has not been shy of scoring goals for some years now and on the biggest of stages, not least in the 2018 World Cup final with France.
With Messi and Ronaldo approaching the twilight of their respective careers, questions over who is to replace them have inevitably arisen.
Sissoko believes Mbappe and Haaland can reach those levels, telling Stats Perform: "They are scoring a lot of goals. They are different players also.
"I think Mbappe is a top player, Haaland also. I think they can reach Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, for sure."
Much was made of PSG's transfer window, with Mbappe initially linked with a move away before he decided to stay under new head coach Christophe Galtier, who was brought in as Mauricio Pochettino's replacement.
Sissoko commented: "I think [Galtier] is the right appointment. He knows French culture. He worked with a lot of Portuguese people so he knows how to manage this type of player.
"He has a sporting director [who is] very good and very respectful. So I think they are doing everything well to win, one day, the Champions League."
When pressed further of PSG's chances of winning that illustrious first Champions League, Sissoko said: "I don't know because the teams are very strong, like Bayern Munich and Manchester City. All of them are very good. We will see."
Jurgen Klopp plays down value of 50th European win after Liverpool beat LASK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp played down his record-breaking 50th European win after the 3-1 victory over LASK in Austria.
His side came from behind for the fourth time in six matches as goals from Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and substitute Mohamed Salah secured the German’s 50th European victory for the club – surpassing the record he held with Rafael Benitez.
“Let me say it like this, if I still have 50 after the group stage, then even if I’ve still got the most wins in Europe as a Liverpool manager then everybody will hate that,” he said.
“The highest number of wins but everybody will hate it.
“So it’s nice – we have played a lot of games in Europe, but it is good we have won that many and we have frequently qualified for finals.
“No it’s great but probably because the competition now has so many more games than in the past.”
Klopp made 11 changes from the weekend win over Wolves and that contributed to the disjointed, sluggish start.
LASK, in the biggest game in their history, took full advantage as they flew out of the blocks and scored through Florian Flecker’s expertly taken strike from a well-rehearsed corner.
“Tough start, yes. Obviously the first shot on target after a set-piece and we conceded,” the Reds boss added.
“We had very good moments but I saw the boys didn’t feel that. It was not that we could gain confidence from our good moments – we didn’t seem to think we should do that again.
“So we suffered from the less good moments confidence-wise and frustration grew. It makes no sense. Human, but it makes no
sense anyway.
“We showed them (at half-time) two football situations from the first half where we did pretty well. The boys clearly thought there was nothing good in the first half but that was not true.
“We told them they had to get rid of the frustration getting back into the game again, and then we would have a good chance to turn it around, and that’s what we did eventually.
“I’m really, really happy because I said before I knew it would be really difficult, and it was difficult, even if people didn’t believe me. Well-deserved win in the end and that’s it.
“I know that people expect us to fly through this competition. In the group stage it will not happen, in the knockout it will not happen. We have to dig in, dig into it.”
LASK coach Thomas Sageder was disappointed they could not capitalise on their good start.
“We played very brave, we were aggressive and we had a chance to score the second goal but it was only 1-0 at half-time,” he said.
“In the second half we saw how good a team Liverpool were but we fought to the end.”
T&T's Soca Warriors back in top 100 on FIFA World Rankings list; Reggae Boyz now at 56th
Eight-time Caribbean Cup champions Trinidad and Tobago have surged inside the top 100 on the FIFA World Rankings list for the first time in almost five years following recent wins over El Salvador and Curacao.
The Soca Warriors – in the latest list published Thursday – climbed four places up to 98th from 102, a spot they held in the last rankings in July. They were last inside the FIFA top 100 at 92nd in December 2018. Based on their world position, the twin island republic remains the fourth highest rated in Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz jumped two places up the FIFA list to 56th and remain number in CFU ahead of Haiti at 87th world ranked and Curacao (90th). Antigua and Barbuda complete the CFU’s top five at 137th.
In the only change to the CFU’s top 10, Guyana have climbed into 10th position with a three place move to 165th in the world, as Barbados – the result of Nations League losses to Montserrat and Nicaragua – slipped out of the top 10. The fell six places on the world list from 166th to 172nd.
World champions Argentina strengthened their grip at the summit of the world rankings. The Argentines, who dethroned Brazil at the top in April, defeated Ecuador and Bolivia in their 2026 World Cup qualifiers earlier this month to improve their status.
Despite losing to Germany in a friendly last week, France retained second place, followed by Brazil (third), England (fourth) and Belgium (fifth).
Harbour View, Atletico Pantoja settle for hard-fought draw
Atletico Pantoja of the Dominican Republic and Jamaican side Harbour View settled for a 1-1 draw in Group B action of the 2023 Concacaf Caribbean Cup on Wednesday night at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Harbour View now sit atop the group with four points after two matches, while Atletico Pantoja played to their third consecutive draw, with three points from three matches.
The match came to life very quickly, as just five minutes into the contest Harbour View held a 1-0 lead when Omar Thompson collected a pass on the left flank, cut to his right and unfurled and sizzling right-footed shot that went blazing into the top right corner.
Atletico Pantoja went right to work on trying to even the scoreline and started peppering the Harbour View goal, namely through Frantzedy Herard and Luis Espinal, who had three and two shots, respectively, in the first half.
Atletico Pantoja kept plugging away and a lack of communication from the Harbour View defense led to a chance for Herard, who was clipped in the area, resulting in a penalty.
Captain Robert Rosado stepped up to take the spot kick and coolly converted to even things at 1-1 in the 59’.
The final half-hour saw the two sides battle ferociously in search of a winning score, but the only thing to emerge from the physical, hard-fought final 30 minutes was a point for each team as things ended in a share of the spoils.
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