World Cup 2022: Henry Points to the Difficulty in Mbappe Hakimi Duel

• PSG teammates Kylian Mbappe and Achraf Hakimi will face off later today in the semi-final of the World Cup
• Both men are relishing the prospect of facing each other in a duel that will go a long way in deciding the match
• Former France striker Thierry Henry has pointed out the difficulty of facing a teammate in the anticipated duel

Football is a sport that sometimes puts friends against friends and even brothers against each other. The semi-final game between France and Morocco is one of those.

PSG teammates Kylian Mbappe and Achraf Hakimi will face each other. Mbappe will come off the left wing for France and face Hakimi who plays right full back for Morocco.

As it was ahead of the France vs England game, the duel between Mbappe and the opposing right full back is hugely anticipated, even from both players as they have tweeted at each other.

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Thierry Henry feels different about the duel as he said from experience, it is difficult to play against someone you know. The assertion was supported by Lilian Thuram who played against Henry.

What Henry and Thuram said

Ahead of the match, as transcribed by GFFN, French newspaper L'equipe interviewed both 1998 World Cup winners, Thierry Henry and Lilian Thuram on when a similar incident occurred between them at club sides.

“Knowing your opponent’s great strength doesn’t prevent you from being deceived. Although Thierry’s style suited me better, he ran around a lot, but with him you felt you were always involved in the game.” Thuram said.

“When you know the defender well, it’s difficult to go 100% into a duel with them and assert yourself. Lilian knows everything about me, my calls, my dribbling but if you make him move by roaming everywhere, at some point he won’t follow because he is human.” Henry added.

World Cup 2022: Poland's Matty Cash explains how he slowed Mbappe down

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Cash: Mbappe burned my legs

Hakimi can take some clues from Poland full back Matty Cash who admitted how difficult it was to play against Kylian Mbappe who he said burned his legs as earlier reported by Sports Brief.

Mbappe scored two goals against Poland, both coming from his favourite left wing where he cut in on his right foot to shoot. France won the match 3-1.

Morocco is yet to concede against an opponent at the World Cup with their only goal against being an own goal. If they maintain that tomorrow, they have a chance of going through.