The explosiveness of Mbappe. Nobody keeps up with him on his first meters. The gear in gear. It’s not about the top speed of 37 km per hour that he achieved in his sprint duel with Hummels (see below), but about the small number of seconds in which he reaches it. It can in no way be compared to a hundred-meter runner who starts out from the blocks. A football player pulls short sprints. In his world records over 100m and 200m, Usain Bolt averaged the speed that Mbappé reached a fraction of a second: 37.57 km/h. In the 100m he reached speeds of up to 44.7 km/h between 60m and 80m.
For comparison: Adama Traoré (Wolves) and Kyle Walker (Man City) reached a top speed of 37.8 km/h in the 2019-2020 Premier League. Mbappe did better against Monaco two years ago, with a top speed of 38 km/h, but without distances, those numbers say a lot and little. They just confirm that it is amazingly fast.
A goal did not result in tonight’s tight sprint. The striker dived into the German sixteen, but with an ultimate tackle Hummels intervened. Well defended. Ref Del Cerro Grande did not think it was a penalty and the VAR did not consider that a ‘clean error’. Much to the dismay of the French.
So Mbappé didn’t get much from his fabulous effort, unless it has to be respected worldwide. The images spread like wildfire on social media. Mbappé also saw a goal disallowed for offside after the break, Hummels was at the basis of the German defeat with an own goal.
Mbappe’s 2019 sprint against Monaco:
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