🚨Pau Cubarsi on why he ranked Kylian Mbappe over Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a top 5 forward ranking: • Reporter: Pau, you recently ranked Kylian Mbappé in your top five forwards of all time — above both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Why? 🗣️Cubarsí: “Because when you’re actually lining up against them, the pure problem Mbappé creates is different. I’ve faced a lot of good attackers. Most of them, even the very best, give you a chance if you get your distances right and your centre-backs stay connected. Mbappé doesn’t. The first thing is the pace. It’s not just “fast.” It’s the kind of acceleration that forces your entire back line to drop five or six metres earlier than you want to, just so you don’t get burned in behind. Once that happens, the spaces between your lines open up and everyone else in the attack becomes more dangerous. Messi was the greatest at receiving between lines and deciding the game from there. Ronaldo was the best at arriving in the box at the exact moment. But both of them still needed the structure around them to create those situations. Mbappé creates the structural problem himself, on the first touch, from wide or from the middle. Then it’s the one-v-one. He’s not the most technical dribbler in history, but he’s one of the hardest to stop when he decides to go past you. Strong, low centre of gravity when he needs it, and he can finish with either foot once he’s through. You can get tight to Messi and try to show him outside. You can step up on Ronaldo and try to cut the cross or the shot. With Mbappé, if you’re half a yard late, he’s already gone and the chance is already a big one. That’s a different defensive problem. Movement and versatility matter too. He can play wide and attack the full-back, or come inside and act as the main striker. He makes the runs that force defenders to choose between staying with him or protecting the centre. In big games — Champions League nights, World Cup knockout games — he keeps producing those moments. Not always the most complete player over 90 minutes, but the moments that decide matches are usually the ones where pure attacking threat matters most. People get emotional when you put anyone above Messi or Ronaldo, and I understand why. Their careers and numbers are historic. But sometimes the reputation makes it hard to judge the actual defensive problem a player creates in the moment. If I’m being honest about what scares me most as a centre-back right now, and what forces me to change how the whole team defends, it’s Mbappé. Peak Messi and peak Ronaldo were extraordinary. Peak Mbappé is the hardest pure attacker I’ve seen to stop without giving up something somewhere else on the pitch. History will decide the final ranking. But if we’re talking about who makes life most difficult for a back line when everything is on the line, I’m not putting him Second nor Third.