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After seven years spent at Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappé decided to leave the City of Lights to realize his dream: joining Real Madrid. Before that, the French international (79 caps, 47 goals) will try to win the first Euro of his career while the Blues will enter the competition this Monday against Austria. Placed in Group D, Didier Deschamps’ men will subsequently challenge the Netherlands and Poland. In an interview given to West France, the Bondynois began this summer campaign with an exercise that was unusual to say the least: presenting the 25 players making up the group summoned to Germany. After speaking about the defense and the environment of the vice-world champions, the top scorer in the history of PSG spoke about the seven French attackers, and in particular three of his former teammates with the Rouge et Bleu : Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembélé and Randal Kolo Muani.
Barcola shocked Mbappé!
For the first mentioned, the former Monegasque was also rave. Arriving from OL last August, the native of Lyon gradually established himself in the collective led by Luis Enrique. With 5 goals and 9 assists in 42 matches in all competitions, the Parisian number 29 – who is preparing to play his first major international competition with the A – has then become an essential pillar for the Spanish technician. A meteoric rise which did not fail to surprise KM7. “Bradley, it’s a nice surprise. The truth is that I didn’t expect him to be a starter at PSG when he arrived last summer. Honestly, we had a Messi – Neymar – me attack, so I couldn’t imagine that a little kid from Lyon, who had spent six months at OL, was going to come and make his mark.Mbappé first admitted before detailing his trajectory in the French capital.
“He arrived timidly, had a difficult start. He was very criticized, wrongly. The coach (Luis Enrique) really helped him. The turning point was his match against Newcastle in the Champions League. He comes on, misses chances, but the coach immediately supported him in the locker room after the match. We all insisted that the most important thing was to create chances, as he did, and that he would not miss them in every match. After that, I think something clicked. As if he had realized what he could bring to this team. Since then, he has not played the same matches. I’m really surprised by his season, and I’m very happy for him. For this Euro, he can play spoilsport! He arrives with the status of the little one who arrives, but I have played a lot of competitions now, and I know that the team which starts is rarely the one which finishes. Get ready Bradley! Who knows ?”finally concluded the captain of the Blues.
Dembélé-Mbappé, a bond that goes beyond the field…
Complimentary about Barcola, the new Madrid striker also focused on his relationship with a certain Ousmane Dembélé (27 years old). Under the Ile-de-France colors, the two men have, in fact, often been the detonators of the group led by Luis Enrique. A beautiful bond that the person concerned wanted to detail. “Oh ! My friend. I can tell so many anecdotes that they would take up the entire interview (smile). We see each other all the time. We no longer play FIFA, but NBA 2K. I am stronger than him. No, seriously, there’s not even a debate! This guy is sick (laughs). But he is so endearing. He has this contagious lightness, which makes him loved in every locker room he has been in. In the group, he is a major element. Frankly, you will never find a player who speaks badly to you about Ousmane Dembélé..
Won over by the former Barcelona player’s ability to adapt, Mbappé also returned to the technical prowess of his compatriot, author of 6 goals and 14 assists in 42 matches in all competitions for his first season in Paris. All with an offbeat, even humorous tone. “His talent is undeniable. I try to push it to the max, all the time. I understand what Luis Enrique means when he says he is the most unbalanced player in the world. He has two feet, he can go in all directions. I am so happy with what is happening to him at PSG, where he is flourishing, had a full season, without a glitch. He had been chasing this for a long time. With us, he had a good 2022 World Cup, which was unfortunately tarnished by its final. Now, it’s up to him to make a good Euro. He is capable of it. Come on Ousmane!” Finally, the strong man of the Blues did not fail to mention the case of Randal Kolo Muani, the last Habs of this Parisian attack.
The captain of the Blues is not worried about RKM…
Unlike his two offensive friends, the former FC Nantes and Eintracht Frankfurt player had a much more chaotic start in the Ile-de-France jersey. Often criticized for his performance in front of goal (9 goals, 6 goals) and regularly left on the bench by his coach, the unfortunate finalist of the last World Cup in Qatar – who saw his shot deflected by Emiliano Martinez in the final moments – will now try to take advantage of the blue adventure to find colors. Asked about this, Mbappé however did not want to burden his partner. “His missed face-to-face with Martinez? We don’t talk about it. It must be hard enough for him already. I don’t have to talk to him about it again. I leave it. We all have those moments we regret in our careers. It’s part of the story, and it’s not because of him that we didn’t win. It’s all of us’ fault. We got ourselves into trouble by losing 2-0.”. And to return, more generally, to the trajectory of Parisian number 23.
“Randal’s early career was made up of great, successive leaps. The 2022 World Cup changed his life. He had just left Nantes for Frankfurt, where he had an honorable start to his career, but not at the high level, like today. Be careful: in Nantes, he was already very strong. To get to know Ligue 1 well, traveling to La Beaujoire is always complicated. But his season in Frankfurt initially tipped him over the edge. Randal is a friend. Our relationship is great, even more so now that we shared a year in Paris, where it changed again. We spent the season together. I tried to integrate him as best as possible, to explain the Parisian context to him. He’s had a difficult season, but I’m sure that if he works as he should, if he continues to have this spirit of not giving up, he can succeed in Paris. It’s very difficult to do it, but it’s beautiful. The difficulty is worth it”. Before joining Madrid and following, from a distance, the evolution of his three former teammates, Kylian Mbappé will, in any case, be keen to shine alongside the Parisians of the France group and thus offer a new coronation to the Blues on the international scene. Start of hostilities? This Monday, against Austria (9 p.m.).
