Jean-Pierre Papin: FC Astana continues to grow

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - This past weekend, legendary French football player Jean-Pierre Papin sat down with Kazinform's correspondent Azamat Syzdykbayev to share his thoughts on FC Astana's success in the UEFA Champions League and who's going to steal Ballon d'Or from Ronaldo and Messi this year.

During the interview, Papin told the Kazinform correspondent that two years ago he had witnessed FC Astana's breakthrough into the UEFA Champions League group stage. The French footballer stressed that Astana is the team that moves forward and continues to grow. The first time playing in the Champions League is always a difficult one.

In his words, every squad needs experience that it can use in such matches. It was a good thing for Astana to play at such highly competitive tournament. When you win a national championship easily, it can be quite a challenge to prove oneself in the Champions League.

Papin who was awarded the Ballon d'Or in 1991 believes that neither Lionel Messi, nor Cristiano Ronaldo will be presented with the coveted award this year.

According to the 53-year-old ex-French forward, it will be Neymar. The Brazilian striker and recent signing of PSG has everything in place to pick the award this year.

The former Bayern Munich and Milan forward came to the Kazakh capital to play in the 2017 EXPO Football Cup held in Astana. Papin was a part of the World Select that was outplayed by the Russian squad 4:7 in the final match of the tournament on Sunday.