Kylian Mbappe used to have posters of Cristiano Ronaldo on his bedroom walls as a kid. Now, he's about to follow in the footsteps of his idol.
Growing up in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Mbappe was obsessed with the idea of replicating Ronaldo.
In fact, his father once said his son used to "spend hours" watching videos of CR7 on the internet.
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A decade later and Mbappe opened up on how influential the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has been on his career during an interview with Spanish publication MARCA.
"He is a hero from my childhood and it was amazing to meet him when I visited Valdebebas," he said.
Now, all those years after watching Ronaldo become one of the Bernabeu greats, Mbappe will wear the famous white after his move to Real Madrid was confirmed on Monday night.
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"A dream come true," he said after the deal was announced. "So happy and proud to join the club of my dream, Real Madrid. Nobody can understand how excited I am right now."
Mbappe also reacted to the move by posting a picture of himself and Ronaldo, from when he bumped into Portugal's all-time top scorer during a tour of Real's training ground.
Not long later, the man himself commented on Mbappe's post with a message of his own.
"My turn to [eye emoji], " Ronaldo wrote on Instagram. "Excited to see you light up the Bernabeu."
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At the time of writing, the 11-word comment has received more than 818,000 likes in an hour – a number that will likely never be topped on the picture sharing platform.
It must have been a surreal moment to read that comment for Mbappe, who is one of Ronaldo's biggest fans.
To give you an insight into his admiration for the Portuguese forward, the 25-year-old's former teammate Abdou Diallo gave an insight into his mindset when it came to the Ronaldo vs Messi debate.
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Speaking in December, the defender said: "Cristiano Ronaldo is literally everything to Kylian Mbappe. If you mention Lionel Messi against Cristiano, Mbappe will debate with you for at least an hour."
Diallo added: "For him, Cristiano is untouchable."
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid, Transfers
Jack Kenmare