Kylian Mbappé marked José Mourinho’s first home match in charge of Real Madrid in style, scoring a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabéu on August 26, 2026. After completing his treble, Mbappé raised his arm, fingers extended, in a pose that Real Madrid fans instantly recognized.
A side-by-side comparison quickly circulated online, showing Mbappé’s celebration lined up almost exactly with a much older clip: Cristiano Ronaldo striking the same pose, arm raised and fingers spread, after completing his own hat-trick for Real Madrid in a 3-0 win over Celta Vigo in 2013. The resemblance was close enough that it was clear the celebration wasn’t a coincidence.
Mbappe copied Ronaldo's celebration 😂 pic.twitter.com/sZJDlHiuBY
— fan (@NoodleHairCR7) August 26, 2026
It’s far from the first time Mbappé has paid tribute to Ronaldo in front of goal. Footage from his early days in Monaco’s youth academy shows him pulling off Ronaldo’s signature “Siu” jump-and-turn celebration as a teenager, long before the two ever shared a pitch.
Years later, when Mbappé tied Ronaldo’s Real Madrid record for goals scored in a single calendar year, he marked the moment by breaking into that same “Siu” celebration in front of the Bernabéu crowd, then posted about it on social media, sharing a childhood photo of himself meeting Ronaldo alongside the caption “Believe in your dreams. Big up Cristiano.” Ronaldo responded to the post with fire and raised-hands emojis.
The reaction to these tributes has been overwhelmingly positive, if not entirely universal. Real Madrid’s own supporters have largely embraced them, framing each recreated celebration as a kind of emotional passing of the torch, a nod to Ronaldo’s legacy at the club from the player now carrying the No. 9 shirt into a new era. Among Ronaldo’s own fanbase, the sentiment runs just as warm, with many CR7 loyalists respecting Mbappé for so openly and consistently showing admiration for his childhood idol rather than downplaying it.
Neutral observers, meanwhile, tend to find the whole thing more charming than anything else, with plenty of fans online joking that Mbappé has simply become the most successful “fanboy” in football.
Not everyone’s convinced, a small number of rival supporters have dismissed the tributes as unoriginal or overdone, but those critiques rarely land, given just how well documented Mbappé’s lifelong admiration for Ronaldo actually is.
Mbappe is literally Ronaldo’s biggest fan pic.twitter.com/supV7evwwo
— H🇵🇸 (@Hvmzaaa) August 27, 2026
The pattern reflects something Mbappé has spoken about openly for years. He’s described Ronaldo as one of his biggest footballing idols growing up, alongside Zinedine Zidane, and has spoken about the influence Ronaldo had on him both as a young fan and later as a rival on the pitch for club and country.
That admiration has followed him from Monaco’s academy pitches all the way to Real Madrid’s own dressing room, the same club where Ronaldo built much of his legend, making each recreated celebration feel less like imitation and more like a running tribute to the player who shaped how he sees the game.
