PARIS: France striker Kylian Mbappe has revealed that after Euro 2020 came to an end, he received a message from the national team that they could have won had Mbappe not been a part of the side.
France was sent packing by Switzerland through a shootout in the last-16. The side was viewed as the favourites to win the tournament after bringing home the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but in the end, Italy won the European Championship.
"I have never taken a single euro to play for the French national team and I will always play for my national team for free. Above all, I never wanted to be the problem. But from the moment where I felt like that I was starting to become a problem and that people felt I was a problem. ... I received the message, that my ego was what made us lose, that I wanted to take up too much space and that without me, therefore, we might have won," Mbappe said in an extensive interview published in L'Equipe, as reported by Goal.com.
"The most important thing is the French national team and if the French national team is happier without me, I'll go. I met with the president (Noel Le Graet) and we talked about it. What I went to complain to him about was that I was insulted and called a 'monkey' for missing a penalty. That is not the same thing. I will never complain about a penalty. The penalty, I was the one who missed it," he added.
Mbappe had ended up missing a penalty against Switzerland and the striker has dubbed it as the "low point" of his career.
"I could have gotten more on-field support, I agree. But I would have never gone to demand it, it is not the same thing. Of course, that would have been nice, but I would never go ask for support on something that I messed up," said the France international.
"You can't look at things in too cynical a manner: in the heat of the moment, everyone is disappointed about being eliminated. In the dressing room, later on, the players came to see me. What shocked me, again, was being called a monkey for the penalty. That is what I wanted support around, not because I took my penalty to the left and Sommer stopped it. It is over now, it is behind me. I have so much love for the French national team," he added.