Kylian Mbappe has laid bare the darkest period of his career in a raw and remarkable interview revealing he was called a “monkey” after his Euro 2020 penalty miss, considered quitting the France national team, and opened up on his turbulent final months at Paris Saint Germain.
The Real Madrid forward, usually so guarded in public, let the walls come down as he spoke about the abuse that followed his spot kick failure against Switzerland, a moment that knocked France out of the tournament and sent his world spinning.
“When I missed my penalty against Switzerland, I started getting called a monkey,” Mbappe said, his words landing like a punch.
“I went on vacation and was a walking dead man. I was in shock.”
It is a staggering admission from a player who had, just two years earlier, been hailed as a national hero after firing France to World Cup glory in Russia. The highs, he explained, made the lows even harder to process.
“I quickly became a national hero and told myself that France was doing just fine. Then you have to deal with all that at once, and it’s tough.”
So tough, in fact, that he asked for a meeting with the then French FA president Noël Le Graët and told him he was done with international football.
“I said I wasn’t going to play anymore.”
Luis Enrique, the roller coaster and being sidelined
Mbappe also offered a fascinating insight into his final, fractious year at PSG under Luis Enrique a coach he clearly respects but could not fully enjoy due to circumstances beyond the training pitch.
“He’s a great coach. He truly speaks his mind,” Mbappe said. “Unfortunately, I had him during my final year on my contract with PSG. And my last year was a roller coaster.
“I couldn’t really enjoy my time with him. I was sidelined for the first month. When I decided to leave, I barely played in the league during my final four months.”
It is a picture of a player trapped between his own ambitions and a club that had already moved on. Mbappe insisted he holds no bitterness, even after PSG won the Champions League shortly after his departure.
“If I had left earlier and they had won, I think there would have been some resentment. But when I left, I felt like I’d reached the end of the book: seven years, I’d done it all, it didn’t make sense to continue.”
Ronaldo, Zidane and the night Messi broke him
On a lighter note, Mbappe opened up about the players who shaped his footballing education.
“My first idol was Zidane, and Cristiano came later. As a forward, Cristiano showed every possible variation. He has different styles and knows how to do everything.”
But it was his former PSG teammate Lionel Messi who left him genuinely speechless, thanks to a training ground masterclass that Mbappe still cannot quite believe.
“It’s crazy; he’s not like Neymar: he does everything right,” Mbappe said, before telling a story that will make any football fan smile.
“Let me tell you a story: we were doing finishing drills in Paris. Neymar and I were among the best. We scored six or seven out of ten, but he took nine shots and scored nine identical goals, all perfectly placed.
“I looked at the goalkeeper as if to say, ‘Can’t you see?’ It’s unbelievable.”
Nine shots. Nine goals. All identical. All perfect.
That, Mbappe seemed to suggest, is the difference between the very good and the truly great. He has spent his career being compared to both. But on that day, in a training ground drill in Paris, even he knew he was watching something else entirely.
