Kylian Mbappé has not waited long to draw a line under a bruising summer.
The France captain reported back for pre-season at Real Madrid earlier than expected, and after his first hours with new head coach José Mourinho, he gave an interview to the club’s TV channel that made his target for the season clear.
“I’m happy to be back, to get a first feel for the team, the new coaching staff, my teammates,” he said of his return to training.
Mourinho was appointed on a three-year deal in June, and Mbappé’s verdict on his new manager was direct.
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“It’s very positive to have a manager like that, who knows how to win, who knows how to guide us towards victory.”
“At Real Madrid you have to win titles, win things, and that’s why I’m here and we’re going to win titles this year.”
A Golden Boot and a semi-final defeat
The pledge is a weighty one. Mbappé’s hopes of winning the World Cup with France ended in Dallas on 14 July, when Spain beat Les Bleus 2-0 in the semi-final. He was blunt afterwards, pinning the loss on collective failings rather than his own display and saying the “first passes and first touches were not worthy of a World Cup semi-final”.
He did leave with the Golden Boot for a second tournament running after ten goals, but the individual haul only sharpened the tension between his personal numbers and the trophies France keep missing.
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Two weeks after the semi-final, Mbappé had already broken his silence with a public message that pointed forward as much as back.
“We do not always choose how the story ends; rather we choose what we put into it,” he wrote.
Sixth minute at Schalke
Two days after the interview, Mbappé was on the scoresheet at the Veltins-Arena, seizing on a slack Schalke back pass in the sixth minute to round the goalkeeper and finish into an empty net as Real Madrid closed pre-season with a 3-0 win. Dean Huijsen headed a second from an Arda Güler corner in the 20th minute, and academy forward Carlos Espí added a third after the break.
La Liga begins for Real Madrid on Saturday, 22 August at home to Espanyol.
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