2026-07-28 08:44:28

Kylian Mbappe has confessed that it “hurts” that France were unable to lift the World Cup.

Les Bleus were seen as the favourites to take home the trophy before they were beaten 2-0 by eventual winners Spain in the semi-finals at the tournament and the captain admits that the team owed fans “a better ending” to their campaign in North America.

Mbappe – who was the top scorer at the World Cup with 10 goals – posted on Instagram: “We’re not bringing a collective trophy home. It hurts, and it will hurt for a while.

“I won’t pretend otherwise. I’m proud to have won the Golden Boot, but it would have meant far more with the World Cup beside it. Maybe we owed you a better ending. But we don’t always get to choose how the story ends. We choose what we put into it, and we gave it everything. That much we can be proud of.”

The Real Madrid star became the first player to win the World Cup Golden Boot twice and thanked his team-mates for helping him to claim the award that he also won at the 2022 tournament.

Mbappe penned: “Thank you to my team-mates. Without their work, their runs, their passes, without the spirit that carried us from the first to the last, I could never have scored so many goals. This award belongs to the team as much as it belongs to me.

“As a kid, I dreamed of playing in a World Cup. Just one. I’ve now played in three, won one, and this year I had the immense honour of captaining my country. I will never forget it.”

Mbappe also thanked manager Didier Deschamps – who stood down after 14 years in charge of France following the World Cup – and the backroom staff who were with the team in the US this summer.

He wrote: “I’ve already said to Didier what I needed to say.

“He knows. Thank you to him, to his entire staff, to the physios, the chefs, the fitness coaches, the drivers, and to everyone working behind the scenes who no-one ever sees, and without whom none of this would be possible. And thank you to everyone who welcomed us and supported us across the United States.”

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