It's remarkable how quickly Kylian Mbappe has elevated himself into the upper echelons of football. The Frenchman came sixth in the Ballon d'Or rankings last night behind Lionel Messi, Virgil van Dijk, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. In the long term, however, it's expected that the 20-year-old will be picking up a few Golden Balls of his own. When Messi won the first of his record sixth Ballons d'Or, Mbappe was just a child, looking up to the world's best players rather than sharing a stage with them.That was all the way back in 2009. In the same year, a 10-year-old Mbappe visited Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea play Barcelona in the Champions League. 

Via a mutual friend, he was promised a photo with Didier Drogba - but the Blues striker later refused because he was so incensed by a series of scandalous refereeing decisions. 

Drogba explained at the 2019 awards ceremony: 

"10 years ago after Chelsea vs Barcelona, a child came to me and wanted to take a picture.

"That day I said no because of the disgraceful refereeing decisions. I learned that the child was Kylian Mbappe. I want to pay my debt now."

A decade on and Mbappe finally has his picture. 

One injustice of that infamous night in west London has finally been resolved, at least. 

Chelsea had four penalty appeals turned down by referee Tom Henning Ovrebo, before Andres Iniesta scored late on to eliminate the hosts on away goals. 

It was Barcelona who went through to the final, though they had to live with taunts of 'UEFAlona' for years. 

One can only wonder what little Mbappe made of it all watching on.

Now that 10 years have passed, the PSG superstar is the one inspiring young players all around the globe.