Explained: Why France football experts and fans are unhappy with ...

Kylian Mbappe has been criticised by some France football experts for prioritising club over country. Reuters

Kylian Mbappe is currently facing criticism for deciding to opt out of France’s UEFA Nations League matches Israel that took place on Thursday and the upcoming match against Belgium (14 October) despite being fit. In September, Mbappe, who made a blockbuster move to Real Madrid in the summer, picked up a thigh injury on 25 September, but eventually turned up for Los Blancos against Lille in the UEFA Champions League on 3 October.

He came off the bench for Real Madrid, in a match which they lost 0-1. The 25 year-old also played in the LaLiga match against Villarreal on Saturday, which Real Madrid won 2-0. However, he has decided to skip France’s games in October, raising a club vs country debate. Mbappe’s decision has shocked football experts, and fans annoyed. “Either you’re injured, and you don’t play with your club and you’re not called up in the national team,” Maxime Bossis, Former France international, was quoted as saying by French sports daily L’Equipe.

“But when you come off the bench in the Champions League and you start a league game, it makes things fuzzy. He’s a special player. We’ve known that with Michel Platini, when we still wanted him with us when he was injured,” he added.

“As a captain [Mbappé] must be an example for the fans, and he has not been,” said Fabian Bonnet, a spokesperson of Irresistibles Francais, the main supporters’ group of the French team.

Mbappe’s latest nightclub visit

Much recently, there were reports of Mbappe visiting a nightclub in Sweden on the day when France played Israel last week. Wesley Fofana, Mbappe’s teammate, however, seemed to defend Mbappe. “People can do what they want with their free time,” he said during a press conference.

“It isn’t something we [the France squad] have talked about today, I hadn’t heard about this story.

“He does what he wants; he is a great guy and a great professional. Are we making too much of it? I don’t know. He’s the best French player, so it’s normal that it is very publicised.

“I think that from time to time [the media] go a little too far. You should ask Kylian Mbappé for more information,” Fofana added.

Lack of a leader for France

Mbappe is also the captain of France squad. Mbappe’s absence and Antoine Griezmann’s recent shocking retirement decision from international football has left a big void in leadership at France football team.

The football calendar, however, is formed in such a way where club football is given more importance than national commitments, unless there’s a big tournament like the FIFA World Cup. Didier Deschamps, the France manager, had made a strong statement, claiming that the “employer was the club, and not the federation.”

“Kylian embodies a lot of things … The interests of the clubs and the interests of the national teams inevitably diverge. We must also remember that the employer is the club, not the federation,” Deschamps had said.

This is, however, not the first time Mbappe has been forced to pick a side. A majority of his fans, including French President Emmanuel Macron, wanted Mbappe to play in the Paris Olympics. But, Real Madrid did not allow Mbappe to participate.

Mbappe’s allegiance was questioned despite him expressing his desire to play in an Olympics. The club felt they needed Mbappe more than the French team.

Messi’s decision against playing Olympics

Argentine football star Lionel Messi had also announced before Copa America that he wouldn’t take part in the Olympics. Messi, though, got injured after the Copa America and had to miss the Games anyway. The announcement, however, came before he got injured.

Unlike Mbappe, Messi wasn’t forced to make a decision by his club Inter Miami. He took the decision himself. Having said that, this season, there are more football matches in the calendar than ever before, courtesy an expanded UEFA Champions League, international matches and the FIFA Club World Cup.

When Mbappe stayed back at PSG

Mbappe was close to joining Real Madrid in 2022, but decided against moving out of Paris, instead signing a two-year contract extension with the French club, till June 2024. The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar was a major factor in extending his stay at PSG. Afterall, PSG are owned by Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) group so Mbappe did not want to let them down. “It was more than just staying at PSG,” Mbappe had said earlier this year.

“It was the World Cup in Qatar. It was many things around these things. It was a big decision, difficult decision … but I don’t regret anything.

“Of course, in a career, you have to take difficult decisions and it’s what I did, but I became the all-time top scorer with PSG. I just want to remember the best things … It was not an easy situation and I wish nobody to live that,” he had added.