There was a time when Jérôme Rothen was an unofficial relay of the Mbappé clan in the media. Thanks to privileged links with the player's family, the former Parisian often had access to secrets, whom he readily relayed on RMC. But this proximity is no longer. For several months, the current has not passed, and Rothen has not hidden it: its tone towards Mbappé has changed, harder, more sharp.
The match against Arsenal served as a trigger. Beaten 3-0 with Real Madrid, Mbappé missed his subject. Two spoiled net opportunities, questionable defensive involvement, and a positioning criticized on the set kicks. Rothen was quick to point this performance: “He is one of the officials. We were waiting for a decisive Mbappé, it was not “, He said on RMC.
When Rothen spits his truths on Mbappé … and it stings
Beyond performance, the ex-international international especially denounced what he calls a basic problem: the style of play of Mbappé and his lack of defensive involvement. “Mbappé is stingy with defensive efforts, he disrupts the Madrid system”he analyzes. A declaration fraught with meaning, which raises the question of its integration into a collective as structured as that of Ancelotti.
The ex-ally became detractor: Rothen descends Mbappé à sneak
The arrival of Mbappé would, according to Rothen, upset the balance of Real. “” Having taken Mbappé disturbed this tactically team. In big games, Madrid is no longer there “he insists. For him, this defeat is not an accident, but the symptom of latent fragility.
Behind these criticisms, it is also a personal disavowal. Rothen, dismissed by a clan which no longer gives him his confidence, seems to settle his accounts through the microphone. One thing is certain: between Mbappé and Rothen, divorce is now consumed.
