{"id":132684,"date":"2025-09-10T11:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/132684\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T11:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:55:12","slug":"kylian-mbappe-passion-stops-me-being-disgusted-in-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/132684\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbapp\u00e9: Passion stops me being ‘disgusted’ in football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> has hit out at what goes on behind the scenes in football in a wide-ranging interview with L’Equipe, saying “if I didn’t have this passion [for the sport], the world of football would have disgusted me a long time ago.”<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Mbapp\u00e9 became France<\/a>‘s second-highest all-time goalscorer — overtaking Thierry Henry,<\/a> and behind Olivier Giroud<\/a> — by converting a penalty in the team’s 2-1 win over Iceland<\/a>, taking his tally to 52 international goals.<\/p>\n

In an hour-long conversation published in French newspaper L’Equipe’s magazine<\/a> on Wednesday, the Real Madrid<\/a> forward discussed his personal life, the national team, and the legal dispute over unpaid wages that’s followed his departure from Paris Saint-Germain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I’m fatalistic about the world of football,” Mbapp\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

“But not about life. Life is beautiful. Football is what it is. I like to say that people who go to the stadium are lucky to ‘just’ come and watch a show, and not know what’s going on behind the scenes. Honestly, if I didn’t have this passion, the world of football would have disgusted me a long time ago.<\/p>\n

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 became France’s second-highest scorer this week.\u00a0Antonio Borga\/Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

“The more money you have, the more problems you have.”<\/p>\n

He added: “I would never advise my child to get involved in football.”<\/p>\n

In July, Mbapp\u00e9 dropped a criminal complaint against PSG — in which he alleged harassment and attempted extortion — although he is still pursuing a claim for over \u20ac55 million ($64m) in salary and bonuses, which he says the club owes him.<\/p>\n

The forward left PSG in the summer of 2024 when his contract at the Ligue 1<\/a> club expired, joining Real Madrid on a free transfer.<\/p>\n

“It’s my legal right, it’s labor law,” Mbapp\u00e9 said, when asked why he was pursuing the case. “The way the proceedings went, it gave the impression that I wanted to hurt PSG. I signed an employment contract, and I just wanted to be paid. I have nothing against PSG, I love that club, I have friends there. But it’s the only way to get what I’m owed.”<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 denied that he bears any ill will towards PSG, who won their first Champions League title last season following his departure.<\/p>\n

“I have friends on the team, and those who know me know that friendship is important to me,” Mbapp\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

“You can’t spit on a team that has your friends on it… My story was over, and I left with no regrets. Even the things I did wrong are part of my story. When I played there, we came very close.<\/p>\n

– Jude Bellingham back in Real Madrid training after surgery<\/a>
– Salah, Mbapp\u00e9 lead EA FC 26 ratings<\/a>
– Liverpool’s Konat\u00e9 on Madrid link: Mbapp\u00e9 calls every 2 hours<\/a><\/p>\n

“We didn’t win, and my time was up. Real Madrid called me, it had always been my dream, and I could have gone there earlier.”<\/p>\n

France are top of Group D in UEFA World Cup qualifying — after two wins out of two so far — and will be among the favourites to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 said international tournaments are as demanding off the field as on it.<\/p>\n

“During international competitions, at some point, [you] always [feel fed up],” he said. “You’re locked up for around 60 days. When it’s the World Cup, nothing else matters… Between the semi-final and the final, the world stops. You think to yourself: this is the biggest game of my life, but I can’t wait for it to be over so we can know the result and move on.<\/p>\n

“But being tired doesn’t mean you don’t love what you do. I’m still crazy about it. I dream about the World Cup final on July 19 in the United States morning, noon, and night. The date is marked on my calendar.”<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 called this France team — which he captains — “the most talented” group he has been involved with.<\/p>\n

“Every position is played by starters in the best clubs in the world,” he said.<\/p>\n

All that’s left to do is go for it. But as a team, we’re not yet stronger than the team that won the World Cup in 2018, or the team that reached the final in 2022. Does this team have the potential to be the best team? 100%.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 has hit out at what goes on behind the scenes in football in a wide-ranging interview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-132684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}