Kylian Mbappé has in an extensive interview in L’Equipe looking back on an already very eventful year for him. The star player of Paris Saint-Germain saw a transfer to Real Madrid fail and became the schlemiel of the European Championship with France, by missing the decisive penalty against Switzerland in the eighth finals, after which he was eliminated. Mbappe, who also lost a Champions League final with PSG in his early football career, considers the missed penalty as the low point in his career.
“You can analyze all you want, but there is one point we all agree on and that is that we screwed up enormously,” Mbappe looks back on France’s disappointing final tournament. Didier Deschamps’ team was a huge favorite, but had to bow to tiny Switzerland. “When you are in the eighth finals and ten minutes before time you are 3-1 ahead, you can never be eliminated by a country that is lower classified,” Mbappe continues.
Mbappe therefore considers the missed penalty as the low point in his career. “The holiday has helped me to move on, because it is difficult to get back on track after such a series of dramatic events,” the French attacker continues. “I got the message that my ego was making us lose, that I was too busy with myself and we might have won without me. Believe me we were very hungry to win the title. We were in a phase where we could dominate the field.”
The flank player, who will play the semi-finals of the Nations League against Belgium with France on Thursday, wants to emphasize that his ego is not the most important. “I have always put the French team first, above all else,” said Mbappe. “I will always do that. I have never earned a euro from the French team and never will. I will always play for free for my country. Above all, I never want to be a problem. But from the moment that I felt like I was starting to become a problem and people thought I was a problem… The most important thing is the French national team and if the team is happier without me then so be it.”
Mbappe denies that there is currently a negative trend within the French national team. “It’s less positive, let’s put it this way. Negative is a bit too much. We have to find the way of the collective again, but our performance also has to be better. We need important victories. For example, if we have the Nations League to win, that will give a lot of confidence. beating Belgium and Italy or Spain, that would be a strong signal. At the beginning we said this was a friendly tournament, but when you see all the publicity around it you want to go for it .”