Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 revealed that he almost retired from the French national team five years ago, after their elimination from the Euro held in 2021.<\/p>\n
France were knocked out in the round of 16 by Switzerland in a penalty shootout in which the Real Madrid star was the only player to miss his spot kick.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 said he sought out the then-president of the French Football Federation, No\u00ebl Le Gra\u00ebt, to tell him he no longer wanted to represent the country.<\/p>\n
The statement was made in an interview on a podcast hosted by his club and national-team teammate, Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni,<\/p>\n
I said I didn\u2019t want to come back. I had a meeting with No\u00ebl Le Gra\u00ebt. I told him: \u2018I\u2019m not going to play again.\u2019 I thought to myself: \u2018I\u2019m playing for people who think I\u2019m a monkey if I don\u2019t score goals. I can\u2019t play for people like that.\u2019 That\u2019s why I reached that point. I said: \u2018I don\u2019t want to play anymore, I\u2019m going back to Paris, I have no problem there.\u2019 No\u00ebl Le Gra\u00ebt told me: \u2018Do you think you\u2019re going to walk out of the office like that and I\u2019m going to say yes?\u2019 He told me to forget about it<\/p>\n
Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/p>\n
The forward dropped the idea and wore the France shirt again shortly after the elimination against Switzerland.<\/p>\n
However, he stressed that the episode of racism “changed his relationship” with the French national team.<\/p>\n
“When I joined the national team, I soon won the World Cup, I was a national hero. I thought to myself: \u2018Ah, France is amazing!\u2019 And then you get hit with something like that. It was hard,” Mbapp\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n