2023-10-12 13:25:34
We saw him for barely thirty seconds on Sunday evening, at the microphone of Prime Video during the Ligue 1 match against Rennes. “It’s that at half-time, we’re winning 2-0, that’s very good, now we have to win the match. (…) We will try to do everything to win this match,” he said briefly. Before that, Kylian Mbappé had not spoken publicly since June 15 and the pre-match press conference against Gibraltar in Faro (Portugal).
The captain of the Blues, as before the last meetings of the French team against Ireland and Germany, will once again miss the traditional question-and-answer session with the journalists on the eve of the match.
“My presence distracts us from what is essential”
At the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, it is not his vice-captain Antoine Griezmann who will speak either, but Aurélien Tchouaméni. The Real Madrid midfielder will accompany Didier Deschamps in this exercise from 5 p.m., before joining his teammates for the training organized in the enclosure which will host their Euro 2024 qualifiers match from 8:45 p.m. this Friday .
According to our information, Mbappé will not speak as part of the France team until qualification for Euro 2024 is mathematically acquired, which could be the case from Friday evening in the event of victory against the The Netherlands. During the last rally, at the beginning of September, he explained to some of his tricolor relays that his presence at a press conference would confuse the message.
At the time, the Blues met Ireland at the Parc des Princes (2-0). The PSG striker knew that the press around the world would have talked to him about his contract, his summer, Real Madrid, Liverpool, possibly Erling Haaland, but never about the next day’s match against the British. “My presence (in front of the media) distracts us from the essential (victory),” he explained in substance.
Maximum concentration for the Blues
The media have long been accustomed to the arrival of the captain, particularly with Hugo Lloris, at the head of the team 121 times during his 145 caps. But this has never been an obligation. Kylian Mbappé himself had also warned as soon as his captaincy was announced that he would not be present at all the press conferences.
“There is no obligation to always have the captain, it can be the vice-captain or a player who is supposed to be important in the following match,” Didier Deschamps replied on this subject during the last gathering. (…) The interest of the French team always takes precedence. I know very well that you have a lot of interest in Kylian. If I refer to Kylian’s last press conference, I don’t think you asked many questions about the France team. »
While nothing has changed between PSG and him for a month, nor with any other club for that matter, it is this pattern that Kylian Mbappé reproduced before Netherlands – France this Thursday, on the eve of the game . Maximum concentration for the Blues, in short.
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