Yearender: Kylian Mbappe - goals, records and major highlights in 2021

Bengaluru, Dec. 28: The year 2021 probably has been a mixed season for French sensation Kylian Mbappe who experienced a bit of everything - a lot of goals, some highs and lows and even a failed move to Real Madrid.

But there's no doubt, it has only made the youngster stronger and he looks to be improving with each passing day.

Here are some of the major highlights of his success and heartbreaks in the 2021 calendar year:

Goals Galore

No other French player has scored more goals than Mbappe in this calendar year with the youngster claiming the Golden boot in Ligue 1 last season and on route to claim another one in the ongoing campaign.

He also scored the third-most goals in this calendar year with 41 goals to his name while helping in 22 assists also.

Records

The 23-year-old is now truly one of the biggest young talents in world football and his past one year record only speaks for itself. The PSG star striker has achieved some major records in 2021.

The biggest of them is to reach a feat of 100 Ligue 1 goals for Paris Saint-Germain. He is only the third player to do so, just behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic (113 goals) and Edinson Cavani (138 goals).

He also reached another landmark in his already glittering career by becoming the youngest player to reach 30 Champions League goals. He achieved the record after scoring against Club Brugge at Parc des Princes, breaking the previous record held by PSG team-mate Lionel Messi. He also scored 12 braces in 2021 which truly is remarkable.

Memorable displays

One of his memorable performances in 2021 came against Barcelona at Camp Nou in the Champions League last 16 first leg last season where he scored a hattrick. He also scored four times against Kazakhstan last month; the first scored by a France player since Just Fontaine did it back in 1958. His performance against Belgium and Spain in the semi-final and final in the Nations League successively also was outstanding where he scored and assisted each in both the games, as the World Champions claimed another trophy.

Heartbreaks

Mbappe has been unstoppable at times however he also has had a fair share of heartbreak in 2021. After lifting the Ligue 1 trophy in four consecutive seasons from 2017 with Monaco to 2018, 2019 and 2020 with PSG, he lost the league to Lille this year. He has not had a great European Championship 2020 with France either where he not only failed to score but also his penalty miss against Switzerland in the last 16 round led France to a major shock exit from the tournament.