Kylian Mbappé offered a raw and unfiltered look into his career and mindset during an appearance on The Bridge Podcast, where he was joined by Achraf Hakimi, Aurélien Tchouaméni, and comedian Malik Bentalha.
The Real Madrid forward touched on a wide range of topics, from his relationship with the media to criticism of his playing style and his turbulent final year at Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappé began by expressing his frustration with traditional interviews, describing them as confrontational rather
than conversational.
“I’m tired of interviews. The journalist is there to make you say what you don’t want to say, and you don’t want to say what he wants you to say. It’s like a boxing match.”
He also addressed long-standing criticism about his defensive work rate, acknowledging the issue while explaining how it impacts the team dynamic.
“I’m a player who defends a little less than others, and sometimes that can be a problem. It’s true that I do it less, but I notice that when I do, it really impacts the team. At Real Madrid, when I do it, you can see that everyone else is doing it too. They criticize me for that, and it doesn’t bother me, because it’s constructive criticism.”
Mbappé then reflected on one of the most difficult moments of his career—his missed penalty against Switzerland at Euro 2020—and the backlash that followed.
“When I missed my penalty against Switzerland, I started getting monkey insults. I went on vacation and I was like a walking dead man, I was in shock. When I joined the national team, I immediately won the World Cup. I quickly became a national hero and told myself that France was doing great. Then you’re hit with all of that at once and it’s tough. I asked for a meeting with Noël Le Graët and told him I wasn’t going to play anymore,”
The 27-year-old also spoke about his time working under Luis Enrique at PSG, describing the experience as complicated due to his contract situation.
“Luis Enrique is a great coach. He truly says what he thinks. Unfortunately, I had him in my last year of my contract with PSG. And my last year was a rollercoaster. I couldn’t truly enjoy working with him. I was out of the picture for the first month. When I made the decision to leave, I barely played in the league in my last four months. I enjoyed it as a fan of football and tactically. Because I’m a football lover. But in my situation at that time, I couldn’t truly enjoy it. He’s a coach who knows a lot about football,”
On his decision to leave PSG, Mbappé suggested it felt like a natural conclusion after several years at the club.
“If I had left PSG earlier and they had won, I think there would have been some resentment; but when I left, I felt like I had reached the end of the book: seven years, I had done everything, there was no point in continuing… I reached the quarterfinals, semifinals, the final… and also, in my last year we played against Dortmund, we lost, but it’s a game that if you play it 500 times, you win 499.”
Mbappé also shared insight into his footballing inspirations, naming Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo as key influences.
“My first idol was Zidane, and Cristiano came later. As a striker, Cristiano showed every possible variation. Because he has different sides to his game and can do everything.”
Finally, he offered a take on positional difficulty in football.
“The easiest position in football? In my opinion, it’s center back. You’re covered from all sides, you can even play in a back three. It’s the only position where you see 40-year-old players still playing in Europe, at top clubs. A 40-year-old striker is finished.”
