Kylian Mbappe has said he informed the French Football Federation that he would stop playing for Les Bleus after suffering racist abuse in 2021.
Mbappe won the World Cup with France soon after becoming an international in 2018 and he now has the most final goals of any player in the history of the competition.
But in 2021, at the Euros, things took a dark turn.
France were unable to carry their 2018 momentum into the Covid-delayed Euro 2020 tournament and were knocked out at the last 16 stage by Switzerland.
The match finished 3-3 after extra time but Mbappe was then the only player out of 10 penalty takers to miss his spot kick.
Switching on his phone post-match, he revealed what happened next.
“When I missed my penalty against Switzerland, I started receiving monkey insults,” he said on Aurelien Tchouameni’s podcast.
“I went on vacation and was like a walking dead man; I was in shock.
“When I joined the national team, I immediately won the World Cup. I quickly became a national hero and told myself that France was doing very well.
“Then you’re suddenly confronted with all of that, and it’s tough.
“I asked for a meeting with Noël Le Graët [president of the FFF] and told him I wasn’t going to play anymore.”
Mbappe of course later reversed that decision, but explained why he still finds things difficult, especially with the media.
“I’m tired of doing interviews,” he said. “That’s why I don’t do them anymore.
“It’s like a boxing match with the journalist, a question of strength.
“The journalist wants to get statements out of you that you don’t want to make, and you don’t want to say things the journalist wants you to say. That’s why I don’t do them anymore.”
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