Mbappe returned from a knee sprain injury as a substitute in the 2-1 win over Manchester City last Tuesday in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 after missing five games, and then came on as a substitute again on Sunday in the 3-2 win over city rivals Atletico Madrid in La Liga.
Mbappe told the media on Monday, including AFP, that the injury was “behind me,” adding, “I was following a protocol where I wanted to gradually return to playing, and the desire to play was there. I hope I can participate during this period and return to being decisive again.”.
France will meet Brazil on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, before facing Colombia in Landover, Maryland, as part of their preparations for next summer's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Mbappe addressed the injury, saying that he felt “a lot of frustration, anger and anxiety,” adding on the sidelines of a media event organized by the insurance company “Allen,” in which the French football star has invested, that “I will not go into details. I did not experience this period in the best way, and I was not the happiest player, but I am happy that it is behind me, everything (i.e. the pain) is gone.”.
When asked if he had any concerns about participating in the World Cup, he replied, “No. That was never on the table. At worst, I had a partial tear and would have been out until April. There was no discussion about my participation in the World Cup or about the end of the season with Real Madrid.”.
He pointed out that everything was “managed in the best way possible” with the club, before adding, “Today, there is nothing left. I wanted to be very careful so as not to suffer further injuries in different places…”.
– “We will not be going there for a holiday.” –
He admitted that “it’s difficult to sit on the bench. If it had been a few years ago, I would have made the mistake of returning to play too quickly, but you have to take your time.”.
He said, “Many people gave diagnoses, and I heard a lot of wrong things” about the type of injury he had.
Mbappe arrived at the French national team's headquarters in Clairefontaine on Monday afternoon to join his teammates, with "Les Bleus" scheduled to travel to the United States on Tuesday.
Regarding the first match, Mbappe said, “It’s a friendly, but when you play against Brazil, you’re facing the greatest nation in football with five World Cup titles. It’s great to play against them. They are a team capable of winning the World Cup, and it’s good to gauge our level against them. Even if we can’t learn a lot from this gathering, we’ll be able to draw some conclusions.”.
The team captain added, "We are not going there for a holiday, we are going to prepare for the World Cup.".
When asked about the identity of the next coach who will succeed Didier Deschamps after the 2026 World Cup, he said, “The president (of the federation) is in charge, and we will see who it will be,” at a time when Philippe Diallo confirmed on Sunday that he knows the identity of the next coach without mentioning the name of Zinedine Zidane, the most prominent candidate to take over the job.
