Mbappe embraces Ballon d’Or talk after historic World Cup exploits
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The France captain scored 10 goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament this summer to win the Golden Boot.
PHOTO: AFP
MADRID – Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe said on Sept 7 that it was natural for people to consider him as a potential Ballon d’Or winner in 2026 after his FIFA World Cup exploits.
The France captain scored 10 goals at the tournament this summer to win the Golden Boot, with his country finishing fourth, and has netted 22 in the competition during his career, making him the World Cup’s all-time top scorer.
Mbappe, 27, has not yet won the trophy given to the world’s best player.
“I think that when you play for Real Madrid, which is the best club in the world, naturally people associate you with that kind of award, they associate you with collective awards, individual awards,” he told reporters.
“A lot of people, when they see me in the street, talk to me about the Ballon d’Or, a lot of people talk about me as a possible Ballon d’Or winner... Of course, I made a lot of history this summer in the most important competition in sports, but we’ll see.
“I have the feeling that it’s a good year for that, but there’s still a long time to go and people are free to vote for whoever they think is the best player in the world.”
Since joining Real in 2024, Mbappe has scored huge quantities of goals, but the club has failed to win a major trophy.
On Sept 8, the record 15-time European champions will host Inter Milan in the Champions League in the first match of the league phase.
During Mbappe’s first two years at Madrid, the team has appeared unbalanced, with too many star names, including the Frenchman and Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior, widely considered not to be contributing enough to the team effort – in contrast to Ousmane Dembele at Paris Saint-Germain and Raphinha at Barcelona.
“We have to improve,” admitted Mbappe. “But I could play dumb and tell you that I score more goals than (Dembele and Raphinha), and that they need to score more goals to be like me.
“Everyone is different, but I want to do things intelligently and say that of course I have to improve and all that, but I don’t like comparisons because I think I do a lot of things that others don’t do.”
Real coach Jose Mourinho recently said he would prefer if Mbappe scored fewer goals, but also worked hard to help the team win titles.
Mbappe said he would accept lower numbers if it led to trophies, but noted that they were not mutually exclusive.
“I’d take 30 goals with titles, yes, but... for me, it’s an absurd debate,” he said. “I always want to score goals and win titles... You don’t have to choose, you can do both things.”
Mourinho faces old friends
Veteran Portuguese coach Mourinho led Inter to Champions League glory in 2010 at the Santiago Bernabeu before he left to take over at Real.
Despite his history with the Italian side, which he steered to the treble that year, the coach said that mattered only before and after, but not during the match.
“There aren’t many (people) left from my time, but it’ll always be a pleasure to see people, even if I don’t know them, but people who defend Inter, before and after,” said Mourinho. “During the game, I want to win, they want to win, and there won’t be time to think about things from a wonderful past.”
Inter coach Cristian Chivu started the 2010 final against Bayern Munich playing under his counterpart. “Mourinho is a special person and I was lucky to have encountered him,” said Chivu, who described the Portuguese as a “winner”.
“There are few in the world like him,” continued the Romanian coach. “He showed it here but at other big clubs too. I’m sure Real Madrid will have a great season.”
Mourinho wants his Madrid players to bounce back from their first defeat of the season, 1-0 at Real Betis on Sept 4 in La Liga.
“I want to win. I could tell you I want to play well, but I don’t want to play well like we did against Betis and lose,” he said. “Obviously, we’re in a phase where we play eight games and the objective in these eight games is to qualify, and I think we’re going to do that. But I want to think about this match in isolation from that context.
“I want to think about this match as a one-off game. I don’t want to think that we still have seven more matches to play, and I want to win.” AFP