Mbappe (left) was judged to be less impressive than his close friend Dembele in the win against Morocco - Photo: REUTERS
If you only look at the surface statistics, Mbappe was the standout player in France's 2-0 win over Morocco, with a performance that was similar in style to Messi's.
The Real Madrid superstar earned a penalty himself in the first half, then missed it himself, before exploding in the second half with one goal and one assist.
It was thought that Mbappe's performance would make him the Man of the Match. However, according to many superstars, he was actually inferior to his teammate Ousmane Dembele in this game.
Specifically, Mbappe only received 7.7 points according to the renowned statistics website Sofascore. Dembele, on the other hand, was given 9 points, despite only scoring one goal (assisted by Mbappe).
Sports Illustrated took a more balanced approach, giving Mbappe an 8.2 rating for this match, while Dembele scored just 0.1 points higher than his teammate – 8.3 points.
USA Today also gave Dembele an 8.5 rating, while Mbappe only received an 8. These results are quite surprising if fans only look at the superficial statistics – i.e., goals/assists, or watch video highlights after the match.
But more detailed, highly technical statistics will show why Dembele was the man of the match.
According to Sofascore, Dembele created three major chances himself and provided four assists in this match. Team statistics show that France had eight major chances in this game, meaning almost half of them came from Dembele's feet.
The ratings of the French national team players according to Sofascore - Photo: SOFASCORE
Furthermore, the PSG superstar also made a significant contribution to the defensive effort with 4 successful ball recoveries and 2 successful aerial duels – a rarity for a winger.
Conversely, Mbappe didn't create any major chances himself. The only real chance Mbappe created was a dribble that led to a penalty, but he then missed it himself.
Mbappe also lost a lot of points for losing possession nine times in this match, and for making virtually no contribution to the defensive aspect of the game.
Fans are often only interested in goals and assists, while experts have more detailed statistics and a deeper scoring system to properly evaluate a player's performance.
For example, Olise, who had no direct contribution to the goals in this match, received a score of 7.6, only slightly lower than Mbappe.