Lamine Yamal vs Mbappé: La Liga Stars Set for World Cup Showdown
France and Spain will renew one of the most tantalising international rivalries in Dallas on Tuesday, with a place in the World Cup final at stake.
2018 champions France are aiming to reach a third successive final, while 2010 winners Spain are bidding to become just the fourth team to hold both world and European crowns at the same time.
Both squads are bursting with talent, but all eyes will be on Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal.
Mbappe's global breakthrough came at the 2018 World Cup, when his quickfire double helped France beat Lionel Messi's Argentina in the last 16 on their way to winning a second champions' star.
Outshining one of the greatest players of all time was the first indicator that a changing of the guard was on the horizon - but now there is a new global star.
Eight years later, teenager Lamine Yamal is looking to replicate what Mbappe did to Messi and ignite on the biggest stage after a quiet debut World Cup so far.
It is hard to look past Mbappe as the best player in the world right now.
After scoring 42 goals in 44 games for Real Madrid last season - making him the top scorer in both La Liga and the Champions League - he has helped establish France's attack as the most fearsome at this World Cup.
The second-most expensive player in history leads the Golden Boot race along with Messi with eight goals in six games, and has made more goal contributions (11) than any other player.
With 19 goals, if it were not for Messi (20), Mbappe would be the World Cup's all-time leading goalscorer after surpassing Miroslav Klose's long-standing record (16).
The only blot on his CV is that despite enjoying two magnificent individual seasons at Real Madrid, he is yet to win a major trophy in the Spanish capital.
After scoring in his first World Cup final, Mbappe scored a hat-trick in his second - but ended up on the losing side.
This summer the 27-year-old captain overtook Olivier Giroud as France's all-time leading goalscorer, and now has 64 in 104 games.
"For me it's just ambition and confidence," Giroud told BBC Match of the Day when asked about Mbappe's remarkable rise.
"He knows where he wants to go. He is a leader and you could see from a young age he was very at ease. He was mature for his age."
Mbappe wants to break every record he can, but only if they serve the collective - it is no secret he is obsessed with equalling Pele's record of three World Cup triumphs.
"He's carried this team through three successive World Cups where he has been the pivotal player," says French football journalist Luke Entwistle.
Yet, after his arrival in Madrid coincided with back-to-back trophyless seasons for Real Madrid, he came into this World Cup with something to prove.
"He's put in great numbers, but the perception in France and abroad is that he's a player who is detrimental to the collective," adds Entwistle.
"There was talk about needing to run more off the ball, doing more defensive work. He has put that into action. The way France have been winning the ball back high this tournament would not have been possible otherwise."
Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini are widely regarded as the two greatest France players of all time, but French football expert Julien Laurens believes Mbappe will surpass them.
"I predict him to be the number one by the end of his career. He has at least one more World Cup after this and the Euros to play in so he will probably become the greatest player we have ever had."
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