When France plays Portugal in the quarterfinals of the 2024 European Championship, Kylian Mbappé will have to put a stop to the aspirations of his childhood idol, winning the European Championship.

The 39-year-old captain of Les Bleus is known for having Cristiano Ronaldo posters on his wall growing up, and a win for France in Hamburg could be the last of the superstar’s incredible international career.

Years of speculating about when Mbappé would sign with the Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid came to an end recently with his transfer, and part of the reason for his long-standing ambition to play for them was Ronaldo.

In December 2012, Madrid made an attempt to recruit Mbappé after inviting him to the city for a week, taking him to a match and to the team’s Valdebebas training facility, where he met Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane.

He once told the Spanish sports daily Marca, “He is a hero from my childhood and it was amazing to meet him when I visited Valdebebas.”

For Mbappé and France, the tournament has been difficult thus far. Following months of rumours regarding his club future and the nose ιnjury that overshadowed his team’s first game, the 25-year-old has struggled to reach his peak performance.

In Hamburg, he will once more wear a protective face mask, which is a must after he was hurt in the 1-0 victory over Austria.

Before France’s last-16 victory, Mbappé expressed his distaste for wearing the mask, saying it felt like he was watching the competition through virtual reality goggles.

Even so, he leads a France side that has advanced to the quarterfinals despite only managing three goals in four games—two of which came from own goals and one of which was his penalty in a 1-1 tie with Poland.

Just before the 1-0 victory against Belgium, Mbappé said, “My Euros did not start like I wаnted but I am here to help the team and I really want to have success with this team.”

“I really want to win the Euros because it’s the only tournament I haven’t won with the national team.”

He’s got opportunities, but he and his group haven’t taken them.

The only teams with a higher Expected Goals (XG) score than France are Spain, Portugal, and Germany. XG is a metric used to quantify the quality of a chance created.

Only Germany’s Kai Havertz and Cristiano Ronaldo have a higher XG than Mbappé, who has his own at 2.54.

Mbappé is disappointed because despite shining at the last two World Cups, he has not experienced the same level of success at the Euros.

In Russia in 2018 and again in Qatar in 2022, he was the star of the show as France won the world championship after scoring a hat-trιck in their last-round loss to Argentina.

Despite having 12 goals at the World Cup, Mbappé’s lone goal in seven Euro appearances came from a penalty against Poland.

Three years ago, he missed the vital penalty in Switzerland’s shoot-out loss in the round of sixteen after failing to locate the net.

Guy Stephan, the assistant coach for France, claimed that Mbappé had been “traumatised” by the аccident with Kevin Danso of Austria, which resulted in a broken nose.

It might not have helped either since his final season at Paris Saint-Germain was frequently challenging.

Although Mbappé led the team in goals scored with 44, he was also kept out of the starting lineup at the beginning of the season after he informed the team he would not be extending his contract past this year.

After it was revealed he would be going, his playing time was cut again in the last three months of the season.

According to recent reports, Mbappé was still attempting to convince PSG to pay him substantial amounts of money that he was due in salaries.

However, France will be hoping he finds even more motivation against Portugal, his childhood hero.