Mbappe scandal escalates! Real Madrid star 'feels untouchable'

Tom Weber

Updated: 12 Oct 2024 18:04 BST
4 min read

Former PSG attacker Jerome Rothen has called on Didier Deschamps to strip Kylian Mbappe of the France captaincy.

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The bizarre scandal involving the Real Madrid star continues to escalate. Mbappe was omitted from Deschamps' latest France squad due to an injury he suffered last month.

However, the 25-year-old was deemed fit enough by Los Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti to play 70 minutes last weekend, which outraged supporters of Les Bleus to the point where they questioned whether Mbappe was qualified to captain the side.

The conversation surrounding the former PSG man hit a fever pitch on Thursday evening and Friday morning because the attacker was spotted not in Madrid but in Stockholm for a night out that culminated in a trip to the nightclub 'V.'

This was despite the fact that Mbappe was supposed to use his break from football as a 'mini pre-season' to get fully fit and firing again. Instead, he flew across Europe to party, though apparently with the blessing of Real Madrid.

Rothen lashes out

Still, Mbappe's trip caused tensions to boil over and notoriously outspoken player-turned-pundit Jerome Rothen has now given his predictably controversial thoughts on the matter.

Speaking on his RMC show Rothen s'enflamme, the former winger thundered: "There is nothing that shocks me anymore. The only problem is that the player Kylian Mbappe - but he is not the only one in this case - feels untouchable, above everything. There is no self-reflection.

"He does not realize the message that it sends, especially when there is a match of the French team that is being played. But that does not matter, that is not even a question. For once there is a small break, he has a few days of rest in front of him, he does what he wants.

"The problem is that you transplant that onto the French team. Because the communication always catches up with you when it is not good. Didier Deschamps' communication on the Kylian Mbappe case has been catastrophic. Tell us things as they are.

"He said that he made the decision and that he saw the interest of the player. If you translate, for those who discover the behind-the-scenes, it means that it is decided in agreement with the player because he feels tired.

"You explain to us that you need to rest, that you want to take a breather, and then you send the message to Didier Deschamps, to the entire French team and to all the French people, that when they play a match in the evening you don't give a damn because you don't watch it, and that behind you are above everything because you know very well that the images [of your trip] will come out.

"We put you very high, we put you above the Eiffel Tower in Paris, so you can't give that image, you can't make a mistake. What happened shows that he is above everything, above Didier Deschamps. But I ask Didier Deschamps: accept your responsibilities, take the armband off him."