Mbappé: Spain are the best team in the world, scoring goals isn't easy

Kylian Mbappé spoke about France's loss to Spain in the FIFA World Cup, acknowledging that his team did not deliver the required performance at the time. He also touched on other matters such as scoring goals and making decisions inside the penalty area.

Kylian Mbappé, speaking to the Spanish newspaper "AS", said: "They won, and in football when you win, you are right. I think we made a mistake in our game plan at the start, and then against a team that likes to keep the ball and dominate possession, when you are a goal down, it becomes more difficult."

He added: "It was not a good day, and in the FIFA World Cup it is not like the UEFA Champions League, there are no home and away matches. We did not deliver the performance we needed to deliver, it is simple, and I think it was an opportunity for us, but we will work to get other opportunities."

Mbappé emphasized: "I always say that the one who dominates is the one who wins, and now the team that dominates is Spain, because they have won and that must be accepted. Although we are always in competition, anyone who watches the matches can see that we are always competing for all the titles. We have the quality, the team, and the players, but we must give credit where it's due, and the one who has won is Spain, which is the best team in the world. Right now, the best is Spain."

Speaking about how he feels if he fails to score in two consecutive matches, Kylian Mbappé said: "I don't wait for three or four matches; one match is enough for me. The match where I don't score is tough, but I love that feeling a lot because if a player like me is used to scoring all the time and hasn't scored for two matches, people notice and talk about it. That gives you some anger, and you go into the next match with more determination to make an impact. It hasn't happened to me often in my career to not score in consecutive matches; people encourage you, and if you handle it well, it gives you more determination, and everything can return to normal."

Regarding his relationship with scoring, he said: "It's not just an art. I think it's a way of being, a way to see football in everyday life, and to have a strong desire to score goals. All players who have scored a lot of goals have had this relationship with scoring, and they know it's a special relationship because it's a feeling we know well and always want to feel. It's joy, and a sense of completeness that you always want to experience."

When asked if scoring goals is easy, he said: "No, because if it were, everyone would score goals. Not everyone scores, but that’s not a bad thing. People think it’s bad; everyone has a role on the pitch. Not everyone scores goals, and not everyone makes good passes or presses... For me, scoring goals is the hardest thing, but football isn’t easy in any position. At Real Madrid, which represents the elite of world football, everyone here, on and off the pitch, is at the top of their profession. It’s not easy."

He concluded about the way he makes decisions in crucial moments on the pitch: "It depends on the situation... because you are facing the last action here. In Elche, I looked at my teammate, and before that, when I scored the goal, I looked at the goal; every moment is different. There is context in every moment. It depends on who you are playing with, in what position, and on the moment of the match; every second you receive a huge amount of information, and you have to make a decision quickly. That’s why sometimes you don’t make the right decision, because everything happens so fast, and sometimes you think the decision is the best, and after a second you see it wasn’t, but that’s what makes the magic of football. The derby comes on Sunday, and the only thing that will matter is what happens there; what happened before won’t matter."