Kylian Mbappe has labelled his Euro 2024 campaign with France a ‘failure’ after crashing out of the semi-finals on Tuesday night.
Les Bleus let a one-goal lead slip to lose 2-1 to Spain in Munich, ending their hopes of reaching a fourth final in their last five major tournament appearances.
In reality — and despite entering as one of the pre-tournament favourites — some have been left surprised that France even made it this far at Euro 2024. Didier Deschamps’ side conceded just one goal in their opening five matches, but also failed to score from open play during that time, with their three goals coming courtesy of two own goals and a penalty.
The latter was netted by Mbappe, finally opening his European Championships account. However, the newly signed Real Madrid man rarely looked like adding to that tally in what was a disappointing tournament.
The player himself — who suffered a broken nose during the group stage — didn’t hold back when reflecting on his and France’s performance in Germany.
“My competition? It was difficult. It was a failure,” Mbappe told reports (via Get Football News France). “We had the ambition to be European champions; I had the ambition to be European champions. We aren’t that, so it’s a failure. It’s football. We have to move on.”
For Mbappe, Tuesday’s defeat marks the end of what has been a long season that saw him play 53 competitive games for club and country, scoring 45 goals and providing eight assists, while lifting a league and cup double during his PSG swansong.
Now finally a Real Madrid player, the forward is looking forward to a well-earned break so that he is ready to hit the ground running with Los Blancos in 2024/25.
Mbappe added: “It’s been a long year. I’m going to go on holiday and get some rest – that’ll do me a lot of good and I’ll try and come back very strongly.”
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