Eight years ago, Kylian Mbappé made his World Cup debut as an electric wide forward who bashed in four goals in seven matches as France won the tournament for just the second time. He was 19 years old.
Four years later, he bagged a hat trick in what some consider to be the greatest-ever World Cup match, dragging his nation back into the game against Lionel Messi’s Argentina before losing in a penalty shoot-out. French sports daily L’Équipe called him “A King Without a Crown.”
But he’ll enter his third World Cup this summer in more turbulent times. He’s scoring goals by the hatful for his club, Real Madrid—41 in 41 matches this season—but a growing number of fans and pundits blame him for the team’s failure to win a major trophy since he arrived. The club he left—PSG—is now enjoying unprecedented success, which surely must sting the man from Bondy, the Paris banlieue. He’s now captain of the French national team, but that hasn’t stopped figures on the French far right—against whom he’s spoken out in the past—from attacking him.
That’s one bit Aidan McLaughlin may not have foreseen when he went to meet Mbappé at the Fairmont hotel in Washington this spring for an interview. The megastar was unflappable as always while defending his right to speak his mind, to not shut up and dribble, but his Vanity Fair Sports Issue cover story has nonetheless caused a bit of a kerfuffle over in France. His comments sparked debate across news programs and social media after far-right figures like Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella got involved.
Despite all the noise, he’ll soon have the chance to become the World Cup’s all-time leading goal scorer. Read on for more, plus full coverage of the blockbuster Musk-Altman trial, round two.
