{"id":134745,"date":"2025-09-10T22:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/134745\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T22:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:18:08","slug":"kylian-mbappe-reveals-the-last-time-soccer-nearly-made-him-cry-and-it-wasnt-the-2022-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/134745\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylian Mbappe reveals the last time soccer nearly made him cry, and it wasn\u2019t the 2022 World Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now firmly established as a leader for both Real Madrid and the French national team, Kylian Mbappe<\/a> is one of the most successful soccer players of his generation. But his journey hasn\u2019t been without setbacks \u2014 including the 2022 World Cup final loss to Argentina. And yet, that\u2019s not the game he remembers as his toughest.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with L\u2019Equipe, Mbappe offered a rare glimpse into his more vulnerable side. \u201cThe last time I cried about soccer\u2026 I only cry when I\u2019m injured. I guess defeats, in one way or another, you deserve them. No one deserves an injury,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the last time I nearly cried over soccer was when we lost with PSG against Manchester City, in the second leg of the semifinal,\u201d Kylian said, referring to the 2020\u201321 UEFA Champions League<\/a>. Back then, the French side was still chasing its first European title and couldn\u2019t get past the Citizens, who won the tie 4\u20131 on aggregate.<\/p>\n

That day, Mbappe didn\u2019t play a single minute due to a calf injury suffered days earlier. Instead, he had to watch from the bench as his teammates lost 2\u20130 at Etihad Stadium. \u201cI wasn\u2019t playing. So I almost cried because\u2026 you\u2019re useless. On the bench, you feel like a VIP contest winner. In those moments, what makes you different from the millions watching on TV? Nothing,\u201d the forward reflected.<\/p>\n

\"\" Kylian Mbappe looks on from the bench during the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Semi Final Second Leg match between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. The biggest missing piece in Mbappe\u2019s career <\/p>\n

At just 26 years old, Mbappe has already won 20 titles across his career with AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain<\/a>, Real Madrid, and the French national team. Still, he\u2019s experienced painful defeats \u2014 and one major achievement continues to elude him.<\/p>\n

The forward has yet to win the UEFA Champions League. He\u2019s come close three times with PSG: the aforementioned loss to Manchester City in the 2021 semifinals; a year earlier, an even more crushing defeat in the final against Bayern Munich; and most recently, a 2024 semifinal loss to Borussia Dortmund.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s no surprise he singled out a Champions League exit as one of the most painful moments he\u2019s faced \u2014 rather than the heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final. Having already won the World Cup<\/a> with France in 2018, that wound seems to have healed more easily.<\/p>\n

Mbappe reacts to PSG\u2019s success without him <\/p>\n

Given how important the Champions League has been to Mbappe, it\u2019s somewhat ironic that PSG finally won it in their first season after his departure to Real Madrid. In the interview with L\u2019Equipe, Kylian was asked if it bothered him to see his former club reach European glory this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have friends on the team, and anyone who knows me knows friendship matters to me. You can\u2019t turn your back on a team where your friends play, even if it\u2019s not PSG,\u201d said Mbappe. \u201cMy story ended and I left without regrets. Even the things I did wrong are part of my story. When I played there, we came really close \u2014 two semifinals and a final. We didn\u2019t win, and my time was up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now firmly established as a leader for both Real Madrid and the French national team, Kylian Mbappe is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,568,15864,5908,564,561,82,13009],"class_list":{"0":"post-134745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-champions-league","11":"tag-kylian-mbappe","12":"tag-psg","13":"tag-real-madrid","14":"tag-soccer","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}