In 2018, he “only” played 15 matches in the Blues, coming out of a first season at PSG with 13 goals in Ligue 1, both very decent and very far from the standards of the player he has since become. In 2021, he was “only” one of the three members of the tempting trio he formed with Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann. In 2022, the shadow of Benzema, absent at the last minute, still loomed. Hugo Lloris, 139 caps before the Qatari World Cup, was still the captain of the France team. Raphaël Varane one of its executives.
It’s very simple, Kylian Mbappé has never been as eagerly awaited in a major international competition as he is currently for the Euro in Germany. The Bondynois has grown a lot since his first twelve minutes in the selection against Luxembourg, one evening in March 2017 (1-3). Seven years later, he is the new striker of Real Madrid, the new captain of the France team. With the responsibilities that this implies, particularly in the media.
Sunday, on the eve of his team’s entry into contention against Austria, the leader of the Blues was faithful to his habits by not hiding from a subject as important as the current political situation in France. “I hope that we will still be proud to wear this jersey on July 7 (…) I do not want to represent a country that does not correspond to my values, to our values”, he said at a press conference, in a very strong speech which set the tone: sport and society will be intertwined in the French team in the weeks to come. And he will be on the front line.
“You are the guarantor of the group, you must ensure that everything goes wellhe warned earlier in Téléfoot about his role as captain. It’s a change from other competitions where I was first focused on myself, whereas here I have to think about others first, and then I will think about my performance.”
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I’m on this mission, and I think I’m ready
Quite a paradox. If there is one competition where we could forgive Mbappé for being (a little) self-centered, it would be this one. The story of his season, which began in the PSG “loft”, ended out of focus in the Champions League, out of the group in Ligue 1, timidly in the Coupe de France, and marked by his frosty relations with its president Nasser al- Khelaïfi, is known. The psychological and especially physical reaction that will result from this is not. “What is certain is that I have the head, we will see tomorrow (Monday) if I have the legs”he summarized.
The 25-year-old striker approaches this Euro with a smile and a clear future, for once. It’s already that. But in an uncertain form. That of a player who suffered from a back injury at the start of the rally, from a blow to the knee against Luxembourg, who was spared during certain training sessions but also against Canada in Bordeaux last Sunday, where he was not saw only a quarter of an hour. Everyone would have preferred to have confirmation that four days after his sharp races in Metz, the legs were fine. Instead, the leader of Didier Deschamps is chasing his best physical sensations.
With his cap as the third top scorer in the history of the Blues, he is also chasing his first goal in a Euro, with revenge to take on the 2021 edition, that of the early elimination against Switzerland, from the penalty shootout missed against Yann Sommer and the relentlessness that followed. The best player in the world – at least one of the contenders for this status – is finally chasing his first Ballon d’Or. All with an cuff around the arm, therefore. “I’m on this mission and I think I’m ready”, he assures. We really want to believe it. Even more to see it.
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