An enchanted parenthesis, for them as for him. This will have stuck well to the theme of the day, to the imposed figures of this day of escape organized by “Premiers de cordée”, an association that has made the bet to introduce the practice of sport to sick or disabled children. Take full eyes, revel in benevolence like a soda in the heat of summer and spread it all around like a virus whose sole purpose this time would be to cure ailments. At the end of a necessarily singular training with a PSG that the Galtier affair has brought to a boil, here is the mission that Kylian Mbappé set himself to fulfill on Wednesday afternoon in a stadium in France where a barrier awaited him. land of about 3000 people made up of sick children and their parents.
“Our job, when you are a footballer, is to help people forget their problems for 90 minutes, Mbappé will slip in to explain his loyalty to the association of which he has been the sponsor since 2017. Today, my mission, which I take as a pleasure, it is to give happiness, to share, to create a connection with the children and to show them that I am not inaccessible, »
Deal. “You’ll see, we had warned a volunteer of “Premiers de cordée”, when Kylian will arrive, the rotten weather will have disappeared. In the eyes of the kids, their parents, as in those of the volunteers or the doctors, it will be great sunshine for everyone. “Stars too, accompanied by smiles and cries, the PSG striker will have started everything a bit when around 3:15 p.m., he finally appeared at the feet of the stands which were just waiting for him.
“Every time I come it reminds me how lucky I am to live what I live”
The day, launched a few hours earlier by representatives of other disciplines such as rugby player Yoann Huget, judoka Priscilla Gneto or handball player Thierry Omeyer, then took a completely different turn, between small exhibition matches and comical choreography. Arrived like a rock star under the cheers of the kids and their parents, Kylian Mbappé takes his time to come and try the ball with his brother Ethan in the center of the inflatable structure delimiting the playground of the day. On the other hand, in the teams of budding soccer players who follow one another, there is no time to lose. First touch the idol, see if the one they only see on TV is indeed real, then immortalize the moment of an inevitable selfie before showing the King, “Kyk’s”, this that everyone is worth the ball. For almost an hour, instead of the thirty minutes initially planned by the organizers, Kylian Mbappé and his brother Ethan will have delighted a good hundred kids who, despite their illness, will have been able to dream of being world champions. space for at least a few hours.
A tasty moment for everyone, including Mbappé, according to the anecdotes told by the PSG striker when he left the field. “A little one asked me if he could touch my elbow, laughs the Parisian, recounting a scene experienced a few minutes earlier on the ground. At the time, I didn’t really understand. But there were a lot of very young and very young people who didn’t realize that you could be on TV and exist in real life at the same time. They are at the age of cartoons and for them, I only exist on TV. So when they see me, they touch me to verify that I really exist. I had the same thing at my house with my nephew and my niece. »
Succeeding in establishing this link with children whose daily life is not always easy is, for him, a guarantee of a successful day. “Every time I come it reminds me how lucky I am to live what I live, he continues. The real heroes are them, we are admired for things… But they are the ones who fight real battles on a daily basis. It’s not hard to play at PSG and to be captain of the France team. It’s much harder to fight against the disease, not to know what your future is, if you have a future… That’s a real fight and that’s why I have an endless admiration for their children. And even before making them happy, it’s a pleasure for me to see all these little warriors fight their daily lives. »