Bixente Lizarazu welcomed Harry Kane’s coronation at the 2026 Ballon d’Or, while taking advantage of his time in Téléfoot this Sunday morning to send a particularly direct message to Kylian Mbappé. The former French international and Bayern Munich legend first chose the English striker as his highlight image of the week: “my image of the week is the Ballon d’Or. It’s Harry Kane. It’s been forty years since Bayern, since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. And it happened and they celebrated it with dignity. It’s a very nice Ballon d’Or, with a very collective spirit. » A tribute to the Bavarian center forward, whose reward Lizarazu appreciates as much as the collective values he embodies.
But the tone changed radically when discussing Mbappé and his attitude during the Ballon d’Or sequence. While he defended the Frenchman last season, the former left-back did not hide his disappointment: “he had a great World Cup. He was consistent with this France team, with a collective speech, and during the Ballon d’Or sequence, he spun. I didn’t like it at all. He went into something hyper individualistic, a lack of humility, self-promotion, a bit forgetting others. It was that he and the others didn’t exist. » Lizarazu then advised him to find a state of mind focused on the collective: “he must come back to the French team with collective values, because in any case, it is these collective values which make the French team win. (…) He may score a lot of goals, but you have to make your team win. That’s what’s most important.”. The message has gotten through.
