Mbappé: “I’ve shown time and again that I can do stupid things"

Kylian Mbappé has been chosen as the Onze d’Or, the award for the best footballer of the season that the French magazine Onze Mondial has granted since 1976 through the vote of its readers, beating Joao Neves and Kvaratskhelia. In the interview afterward, the Real Madrid forward showed his most human side and began by dismantling the myth of the perfect boy. “Anyone who thinks I’m perfect clearly doesn’t have a television!”, he joked. “I’ve shown time and again that I can do stupid things. And I’m okay with that. I think that’s fine too.” 

The Frenchman argued that the screen distorts people's perception of him: “No one really knows you through television. That’s why sometimes there are analyses that are out of step with reality”. And he illustrated it with an example: “If you ask me to judge an actor whose films I’ve only seen, I can give an opinion completely opposite to what the person is really like. That’s why I don’t pass judgment, because I have the experience of going to the other side of the screen and I know what it’s like”.

Far from lowering the ambition that has led him to declare himself the best in the world, a phrase that is not always understood in France, Mbappé defended it as a tool. “I understand everything. I know the history and culture of my country, so I know what it can provoke when I say things like that”, he admitted. “When I say it, it’s because I think it and because it is a motivation. To do great things, you can’t go out onto the field thinking that others can do it better than you. That would be setting a limit for yourself”.

To say that I am the best? I know what it can cause when I say things like that, I think it and it is a motivation

Mbappé

The Frenchman claimed doubt as the driving force behind his longevity at the elite level. “You don’t become a player with such a lasting presence over time if you don’t think, if you don’t reflect, if you don’t doubt,” he said. “Doubt is very important, because it allows you to improve yourself, not to rest on your laurels. I constantly reflect on what I can do, what I have done, what I am doing”. Speaking about his career, more than a decade after his debut, he did not hesitate in the interview: “A ten. The main thing I take away is not the goals or the titles, but that in these ten or eleven years I haven’t been bored for a single year. I have never pulled the handbrake.”

"True to his idea that a footballer is won over by talking to him about football, Mbappé defined his next goal: to understand the game on a deeper level. “I want to truly understand the moments of a match, of a season, of a play. To have more control over what I do, to leave less room for the unknown,” he explained. Not at the expense of his essence, of course: “You have to leave room for creativity and instinct, because they are part of my game, and that is something I must never lose.”

Pressure management

On how he handles the pressure of millions of people, the striker emphasized the perspective that the years have given him. “It’s difficult if you take it personally, and I used to take it that way when I was younger”, he admitted. “Today I’m 27 years old, I have distance, and I understand that sometimes there are people who aren’t looking to analyze and that’s just how it is. The most important thing is to be in tune with your values, with your principles, with the message you want to send.” And he summed up his character in one image: “I’m a guy who adapts. More than a chameleon, a child of the world”.

He also had words for those who dream of becoming like him. “I tell all those kids that wanting to be me is setting a limit for yourself, and the goal of dreaming is not to set limits for yourself,” he said. “If they can dream of being more than me, they shouldn’t hold back!” The forward also brushed aside any complaint about the burdens of fame: “I have always felt privileged. It would seem out of place to me, in the world we live in, to complain about being Kylian”.

Asked whether he is happy, Mbappé replied without qualification. “Of course I’m a happy man. I’ve had the life I always wanted to have. I always wanted to be a footballer, and I’ve fulfilled my dream of playing in the best competitions every weekend,” he concluded. “What would I need to be happier? Nothing. In life I’m not someone who always seeks to have more. At work, yes, but in life, no. You have to know how to be content with what you have.”