Biggest challenge for rising stars in all sports is living up to the early hype

PSG's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's second goal at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. Picture: AP Photo/Joan Monfort
Haaland and Mbappé though, have exploded out of the blocks; it took Ronaldo 56 games and Messi 40 matches to reach that mark of 20 Champions League goals. When Mbappé scored again in PSG’s recent second leg against Barcelona, he became the youngest player to reach 25 goals in the competition.

Kelly, Hogan, Gleeson, Canning and Lynch were gifted underage proteges, but the other five weren’t; Reid was an excellent underage player but he was so frustrated early in his senior career that he considered walking away from Kilkenny in 2012.
