The Real Madrid forward opened up in an exclusive interview on French television.
Why is Mbappé speaking now? It’s a good question and, without doubt, a justified one: the French superstar has just made the move to the biggest club in the world and the pressure cooker is always whistling.
If he had scored 30 goals already he could’ve scored 35, that’s how things work in the Spanish capital. Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, heck, even Alfredo Di Stéfano, all got booed at the Bernabéu, it’s a tough place to live and a tougher place to thrive.
“The problem, when you’re a star”, Mbappé said in a trailer of the exclusive interview by CANAL+ journalist Moloud Achour, “is that people speak for you. Every day things come out while I haven’t spoken to anyone. That’s why I’m talking to you today. At a certain point, you have to speak. You need people to understand you.”
What did Mbappé say in the interview with French television?
The interview began with Mbappé talking about life in Madrid: “I am very happy. I am starting a new stage in my life. It’s my first experience abroad. I am discovering a wonderful country, with welcoming people. It’s a great country”, he said.
When asked about how his personality copes with being criticised as a footballer, Mbappé was as honest as was intimated: “I’ve been described as very mature... Sometimes I send messages without having to speak and sometimes I send messages in spite of myself. People see us as robots. There’s a robotic circle that wants that. When you go beyond that... We are human like everyone else".
As for his future at Real Madrid, the Frenchman kept to a line used by many footballers: I never know what’s going to happen. My life is a river of unknowns".
Sticking to tough topics, a question came about the incident reported in Sweden, when Mbappé was on holiday: “I was surprised. It always surprises me. These are things that happen that you don’t see coming. I didn’t get anything, not a subpoena. I read the same as everyone else. The Swedish government hasn’t said anything. I’m not worried about it. It’s just lack of understanding, because I’ve never felt worried about the noise. I always had the same intention, which is to concentrate on my work and see how it ends. If I am summoned, I will go.
“It wasn’t even an afternoon [on holiday]. I had five days off, I decided to go. I had to go somewhere else, but the coach told me to go somewhere less exposed. Everything is going well, I’m calm."
“Since I was 14 years old, everyone told me I was going to be big”, he said when asked about his life as a famous face, “but when you’re big, sometimes you feel small. The football crowd is very versatile. It’s sometimes good... but sometimes not so good".
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