With Kylian Mbappé, you often have to read between the lines. Those of his rich interview given to L’Equipe on Monday evening may give a lot of work to the followers of PSG and the France team for the next few days, or even weeks. And probably from Tuesday, when the France team is assembled in Clairefontaine before leaving for Italy for the Final 4 of the League of Nations. With Kylian Mbappé, therefore, even if his presence is not as obvious as it seems.
Indeed, in this long interview, the PSG striker admits half-heartedly to having thought of taking a break in the France team after his missed goal against Switzerland and the early elimination of the Blues in the round of 16. Without directly using these terms.
“Have you thought about taking a break? »Asks the sports daily. “I have always put the France team above everything and I will always put it above everything, he replies. Above all, I never wanted to be a problem. But from the moment I felt that I was supposedly starting to become a problem and people saw me as a problem … The most important thing is the France team, and if the team de France is happier without me, that’s how it is. “
“It’s over now”
He mentions in particular the racist insults and hate speech he suffered on social networks after the elimination. “The message I received,” he continues, “is that my ego was making us lose, that I wanted to take up too much space, and that without me, therefore, we might have won. “
Mbappé did not, it seems, go much further with the idea of making this break. A meeting with Noël Le Graët, the president of the Federation, whom he also accuses of having made its content public, has apparently dissuaded him, even if he does not go into detail. “We discussed whether or not I am a problem for the selection, continues Mbappé. I never wanted to be a problem and I will never want to be a problem for selection. “
Now relaunched with the Blues, the crack of Bondy claims to have left all that “behind” him. “It’s over now,” he concludes. I have so much love for the France team that I can ignore it all. What shocked me, again, was being called a monkey for a penalty. That’s why I wanted support, not because I took my penalty on the left and Sommer stopped it: that’s my fault, it’s my foot. “
