Kylian Mbappe has critiqued his start to life at Real Madrid, spoken about his relationship with Lionel Messi after the 2022 World Cup final and said he hopes former club Paris Saint-Germain can win the Champions League.
In a wide-ranging French TV broadcast, Mbappe, who agreed a reported £128 million signing-on fee to join Madrid in the summer after seven years at PSG, said he watches every match involving his former team and voiced his desire to return to international action, having been named France captain but missed their last two camps.
The 25-year-old all-time PSG top scorer also discussed what he said to PSG owner and Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani when news first broke in February that he would leave the reigning French champions.
Here are six things we learned from Mbappe’s revealing interview.
Primer tituló con el mejor club del mundo !!!! Vamos por más !!!!
¡HalaMadrid! 🤍🤍🤍 @realmadrid pic.twitter.com/ruksazaB8U— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) August 14, 2024
World Cup final ‘made Mbappe and Messi closer’
In one of the greatest games of all time, Argentina led France 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the last World Cup final before Mbappe scored twice in less than two minutes to force extra time.
Messi, who had scored the opening goal, netted again in the 108th minute, only for Mbappe to send the game to penalties by completing his hat-trick two minutes from the end.
The pair scored the first penalties of the shootout, with Argentina proceeding to win 4-2 and give Messi bragging rights when they were reunited at PSG training before the start of the 2022/23 season.
“I was furious as hell but you respect it because it’s Messi,” said Mbappe, speaking to Canal+, via RMC. “We broke the ice laughing together because we fought. We made memories of the final. I think this final brought us closer together.”
Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi joined Paris in August 2021 following his shock exit from boyhood club Barcelona. Messi and Mbappe had joint direct participation in 34 goals across the 67 games they played together, winning Ligue 1 twice.
Une soirée mémorable. 🙏🏽🇫🇷 @equipedefrance pic.twitter.com/7AYLWcaCxL
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) November 18, 2023
Mbappe’s ‘love’ for France ‘has not changed’
Mbappe admitted he was “tired” at Euro 2024, where he missed France’s 0-0 draw with the Netherlands in their second game after breaking his nose during their 1-0 opening win against Austria.
France were knocked out by eventual champions Spain in the semi-finals, with Mbappe’s only goal coming in their 1-1 group-stage draw with Poland. He has played twice since then and did not feature in their Nations League squads in October and November.
“My love for the French team has not changed. ” said Mbappe, who needs 10 more goals to become Les Bleus’ all-time top scorer. “Yes, I miss it, because it’s been a long time since I’ve been there.
“In September, I asked the coach [Didier Deschamps] not to go. I had just arrived in Madrid. I had had a super short vacation. The coach insisted that I come; it didn’t go very well. But it’s still the French team.”
Mbappe said he had been “lied” to and blamed for “certain failures” at Euro 2020, in which Spain lost to Switzerland in the round of 16.
“I always put the French team at the top,” he added. “I did everything to represent them as best I could. I [broke] my nose. And people tell you that they don’t care about the French team.”
Día 1. ¡HalaMadrid! 🤍🤍🤍 @realmadrid pic.twitter.com/bJ8XHT2GNp
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) August 7, 2024
‘Not the best start’ at Real Madrid
Madrid initially tried to sign Mbappe before he left Monaco in 2017, initially joining PSG on a season-long loan as part of a £145m deal that made him the second-most expensive player in history.
PSG turned down a second bid of £137m for Mbappe in August 2021 but, after his contract expired, the reigning Spanish champions finally achieved their aim by handing him a deal in June until 2029.
Mbappe contributed 44 goals and 10 assists for PSG last season but has been less prolific in his first 21 matches for Madrid, scoring 11 goals and setting up two. He is currently four games without a goal in the Champions League.
“It’s not the best start to the season, but we’re preparing for the trophies that will count,” said Mbappe. “It’s not up to what we expected but, at Real, we wait in the second half of the season. That’s when you’ll be judged.
“I always dreamed of Real Madrid. I didn’t know when or how but I knew I was going to play here. The day before [my] presentation, there was a three-hour briefing – I had to translate for my mother and father.
“It was tiring. The next day, you have your first human contact with the guys, I met the coach [Carlo Ancelotti]. Afterwards. we go to the Bernabeu… the public welcomes you like a king.”
The last one…❤️💙🥺 @PSG_inside pic.twitter.com/na5oKsVRya
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) May 25, 2024
PSG fans ‘deserve’ Champions League glory
Mbappe said reports that the Emir of Qatar wanted to dissuade him from joining Madrid were wide of the mark. “I’m in the car and news comes out that the Emir of Qatar is going to make an irrefusable offer to stay at PSG,” he explained.
“He told me: ‘You see, they think I’m going to make you an offer but you’ve decided to leave and I respect your decision. You want to fulfil your dream of going to Real Madrid, thank you for everything.’ That touched me. I told him, ‘I’ll give my best until the end of the season.’”
A six-time French champion and 2020/21 Champions League finalist with Paris, Mbappe called the club “a super intense place, in the good and the bad” and described his time there “extraordinary”.
“Maybe the mistake I made was that I mixed everything up,” he reflected. “I had conflicts with people, I defended my rights as a player, but that didn’t represent the club.
“I never mixed everything up with the players, the people at the campus, the staff. With the fans, I could have been more expressive. They say ‘Kylian doesn’t care’. They think it was a hobby before going to Madrid.
“I still watch PSG matches. I know the club by heart. When they lose, I know how difficult it is. I’ve always kept this connection with PSG. It’s a relationship that can’t be cut off like that.
“I hope that one day, they will win [the Champions League] because the supporters, the people who suffer daily there, they deserve a little happiness anyway. But not now, because I have to win a little. I’m at the best club in the world. There’s nothing above.”
Mi nueva casa. ¡Hala Madrid! 🏟️😍😃 @realmadrid pic.twitter.com/2XWvNTgNqQ
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) July 17, 2024
‘Incomprehension’ over reports in Sweden
After media reports linked his name to a rape inquiry in Sweden in October, Mbappe took to social media to label the coverage “fake news”.
Mbappe’s lawyers called the reports defamatory. Deschamps also said that his exclusion from France’s squad the following month was not connected to the reports.
“I was surprised,” said Mbappe. “I’m always surprised: these are things that happen that you don’t see coming. I didn’t receive anything, no summons. I read the same thing as everyone else. The Swedish government didn’t say anything. I’m not concerned… it’s just incomprehension. It didn’t weigh on me because I never felt concerned.
“There’s a lot of noise but I’ve always had the same intention, which is to focus on my job and see how it ends. When I’m on the plane, I have the information. I have no idea who [the complainant] is. If the justice system summons me, I’ll just go.”
Mbappe was in Sweden after Madrid granted him time to rest. “It wasn’t even a night out,” he said. “I had five days off, I decided to leave.
“I was supposed to go somewhere else, but the coach told me to go somewhere less exposed. It was going well and I was relaxed. Before leaving, there’s this photo of me leaving [a] restaurant. There were lots of people ready to welcome me for the departure, lots of journalists.”
🎖️ pic.twitter.com/2JjnQuUGDw
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) February 27, 2024
Media ‘have to talk’ about Mbappe
Mbappe spoke about the pressure of being in the media spotlight. “If you’re a star, people talk about you if you don’t talk,” he said.
“That’s why I’m talking today. Every day, there’s something, even though I haven’t done any interviews. I don’t talk. I think it comes from the fact that we have to talk about Kylian at all costs.
“I wrote my story in Paris I think I did a lot of things well, others not well. I made people dream, I broke records, I won titles, I gave emotions.
“You discover a new context, a new club [Madrid], climate, environment. You open all your senses. It’s more about observation. I’m going to succeed here.
“Young people shouldn’t dream of being me, because the goal of a dream is to have no limits. I didn’t dream of anyone – I dreamed of being great.”
