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One day after confirming his arrival at Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé was in the news again and this time for his statements in the preview of the Euro Cup that will be played in Germany from June 14 to July 14. France is one of the top candidates and its top figure once again reignited the controversy over the maximum demand at the national team level. For the 25-year-old striker, the Old World tournament is more difficult than a World Cup.
“I have always felt it the same way. It is a really very complicated competition. For me the Euro is more difficult than the World Cup, even though there is much more pressure in a World Cup,” he said. “Here all the teams know each other, we play with each other all the time. Tactically it is very similar football,” he explained.
“From the group stage it will be very complicated. We played with Austria, a surprising team. We also have the Netherlands and Poland, who are a very good team and who we faced in the round of 16 of the World Cup and even so they needed the playoffs to enter , which demonstrates the complexity of the competition,” he added.
“It is a competition that we have not won for 24 years and that is enormous, but we are not putting any extra pressure on ourselves. We continue to prepare for the group stage, to do a good job,” he said about the competition that France won twice. , locally in 1984 and in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2000.
His testimonies can be compared with those he made before the last World Cup in Qatar 2022, when he asserted that the level of European football was better than South American football. “The advantage we have here is that we always play high-level matches, we have the Nations League for example. When we get to the World Cup, we will be ready,” he stated.
Although his most stinging phrase was when he disparaged the South American powers: “Argentina and Brazil do not play high-level matches to reach the World Cup. In South America football is not as advanced as in Europe. And that is why when you look at the last World Cups it is always the Europeans who win” .
Once Argentina beat France on penalties after drawing 3-3 in the final on December 18, 2022 at the Lusail Stadium, the French star was the one targeted by the Argentine fans.
The seventeenth edition of the Euro Cup will take place in Germany: on the first day the locals will open fire against Scotland in Munich. Hungary and Switzerland are the other two teams in Group A.
While France is in Group D with Poland, the Netherlands and Austria. The other four zones will be made up of Spain, Italy, Croatia and Albania in B; England, Slovenia, Denmark and Serbia in C; Belgium, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine in E and Turkey, Georgia, Portugal and the Czech Republic in F.
Kylian Mbappé is already a “merengue”
Kylian Mbappé’s name took over all the covers of the main media in Europe after his arrival at Real Madrid as a free agent was formally announced after ending his contract with PSG. The forward’s head, however, is focused on his preparation for Euro 2024, and before the start of the competition the footballer sat before journalists at the press conference ahead of the next friendly match against Luxembourg.
Accompanied by Didier Deschamps, the Frenchman responded to the concerns of those present, who mostly made reference to his new club and, among his statements, he spoke about the problems he experienced during his last season at PSG: “It’s a great relief, I’m very happy, and I think it shows on my face. I played a lot less at the end of the season and everyone knows why. That’s how things are, you have to adapt when you’re an elite player. That’s no excuse. I’m trying to get back in the best shape possible and I want to help the French team and try to take the cup home.”
Regarding his start to the season, where much was said about his transfer, which the footballer himself finally ruled out, Mbappé acknowledged: “I always thought I was not going to play. As soon as I played, it was already a successful season. Although I have had better seasons, this has been the most difficult to play and I am proud to have played it.
“Luis Enrique and Luis Campos saved me. Without them I would not have stepped on the playing field again,” he said after revealing that there were those who “spoke violently” to him. “That is the truth, and that is why I have always been so grateful to the coach and the sports director,” he remarked.
To close the topic, Mbappé clarified: “At PSG I was not unhappy, that would be spitting in the soup. There are things that made me unhappy, but there are things that cannot be shown because I was a leader and you don’t follow someone who He’s depressed. There were things that made me unhappy and I wouldn’t settle for a year like that. Anyway, this is still football. I get paid a lot of money to play football. It’s quite inappropriate. “That I, Kylian Mbappé, complain to the world when horrible things happen in the world. It’s my upbringing.”
The French international joins the white team for the next five seasons, until 2029: “I am very happy, liberated, relieved and extremely proud. This is the club I have always dreamed of being in, so I want to thank them. I am very excited with the idea of going to this great club, the best in the world. I would like to thank all the people who have sent me messages and all those who have contributed to this operation,” he added.
“Everyone has heard the news: it’s official, I’m going to be a Real Madrid player for at least the next five seasons. It’s an immense pleasure, a dream come true. It’s very exciting,” he said.
