Salah, Mbappe and Vinicius form a dream line

“Even when you are under pressure for results, you must never forget the concept of pleasure,” Kylian Mbappe once mused. “You pay to watch a spectacle, and some players are worth the price of admission.”

French with heels certainly suits that background. Along with his teammate from Real Madrid Vinicius Junior and Liverpool Mohamed Salah’s talisman, this sublime trio created a mesmerizing spectacle so routinely that they were included in the front rows EA FC 25Team of the year.

Here’s how these three star attractions rose above all their peers.

Salah’s inclusion has raised some eyebrows. There is no doubting the prolific start to the 2024/25 season for the Liverpool striker, who has scored even more goals than cryptic stories about his expiring contract.

However, this is an award for calendar year i Salah endured a slow finish to the 2023/24 season while nursing a serious hamstring injury sustained on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Nevertheless, Salah’s brilliant form in the last five months of 2024 is enough to banish memories of the January to May period. As Arne Slot blurted out at the end of the year: “We didn’t know Mo Salah could be better, but somehow he is!”

Kylian Mbappe spent the first half of 2024 saying goodbye to Paris Saint-Germain for a long time. The club’s all-time top goalscorer eventually sealed his move to the Real Madrid in the summer, fulfilling a childhood dream that had existed since a family friend gave him a model of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Mbappe brought that replica down to earth at his launch in July.

The divisive Frenchman marked his debut with a goal in the triumphant UEFA Super Cup final but struggled to break into a team that was already Spanish and European champions. The moment Mbappe scored in his second final for Madrid, helping the club to victory inaugural Intercontinental Cup in December, the new number nine became a home.

It would be easier to list what Vinicius Junior did not achieve in 2024. The Brazilian sensation could not cure cancer, failed to go more than three consecutive games without scoring a goal and pointedly missed the vile racist abuse he receives get over it.

Vinicius may have missed out on the Ballon d’Or – until an extremely narrow margin – but he was crowned the best FIFA player of the year. More significantly, in what remains a team sport, Vinicius helped Madrid to a rare La Liga and Champions League double – scoring in the European final to beat a defiant Borussia Dortmund.

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