After the Blues’ big victory against Ukraine and the official qualification for the 2026 World Cup, Kylian Mbappé wanted to put the performance in a broader perspective. In a Parc des Princes full of emotion and at the end of a controlled match, the French captain reminded us that this type of collective feat should never be taken for granted. For several years, France has become accustomed to seeing the World Cup as an obligatory, almost automatic stage, but Mbappé insisted on the need to measure the difficulty and value of such regularity at the highest level. “We must not trivialize going to the World Cup, even if I know that in recent years it has been the norm. And we are aware that it is normal for a team like ours to go to the World Cup. But we must not trivialize it, because in the history of the France team, that has not always been the case. And we are going to go there to represent the French as best as possible.»
He continued in an amused tone: “I don’t know if I’m the right person to answer this question. I don’t understand this semi-final thing. If the goal is semi-final, do we go to the semi-final, do we stop, do we go back? No, the goal is to win. It’s everyone’s dream. Some will be choosy and say, if they don’t win, ‘we said semi-final’. But for us, the objective is to win. The dream is to win. We know it’s going to be very difficult and we’re preparing for that.”launched Mbappé, faithful to his ambition and his straightforward speech. A clear way of setting the framework at the dawn of a World Cup where the Blues will, once again, aim for the summit.
