EXCLUSIVE
France legend Emmanuel Petit delivers harsh truth on Kylian Mbappe role as leader
France legend Emmanuel Petit has questioned Kylian Mbappe for his performances as captain of Les Bleus at Euro 2024.
Mbappe was named captain of France ahead of Euro 2024 and despite them being one of the favourites, it has been a stunted start for Les Bleus.
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They finished second in Group B after drawing to Poland on Monday, allowing Austria to pip them to top spot.
It now means Didier Deschamps' side face a tougher route to the final while Mbappe, who missed the second match against the Netherlands with a broken nose, scored his first European Championship goal with a penalty against Poland.
But not everyone is impressed with the newly-signed Real Madrid superstar, with talkSPORT pundit Petit not holding back in his criticism of the forward.
"He is taking all the limelight in the dressing room and outside as well," the 1998 World Cup winner said.
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"There is a team with and without Kylian Mbappe and he loves being under the limelight as well.
"But I think his enjoyment with the national team is completely different to Paris Saint-Germain, we can see that because he is smiling, he has a really good relationship with a lot of players.
"But in terms of ego, I heard something that some players can be annoyed sometimes because he is taking up a lot of space in the dressing room and outside.
"For me, Kylian Mbappe is probably the best player in the team and the team is behind him but as I said before, as a leader, he hasn't responded in the best way on the pitch.
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"He is asking always about responsibility, to be the main man, to be the best player in the world. He has great ambition but he has to put himself under pressure because you have been there.
"He is far from what he can do for this team so I am expecting much more than that so if you keep doing that, it could be a problem with the rest of the players.
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"Because you are thinking, 'you are the main man, you are the captain, you want to be the best player in the world, you are asking for the Ballon d'Or, you are asking to play for Real Madrid, fair enough'.
"Go show us that you are the best in the world because, at the moment, he is not doing that."
While Mbappe has got off and running with goals scored at the tournament, he has looked lethargic in the two matches he has played against Austria and Poland.
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Mbappe has often shone for France at international tournaments and has 12 goals at the World Cup in 14 appearances already.
It has put the 25-year-old on the verge of breaking Miroslav Klose's record (16) for most goals at the prestigious competition while in Euro qualifying, Mbappe scored 12 in 13.
The Frenchman is in the hunt for the Ballon d'Or at the end of the year and Euro 2024 could play a major factor if he leads Les Bleus to glory.
Petit added: “Didier Deschamps has been the manager for the last 10 years and there is no surprise at all the way the national team is playing. They are going to play the same way. They won't change anything at all.
“The only thing I'm worried about is our main guy. They used to be the leaders of the team on the pitch. At the moment, they are not responding. And this is something that I'm worrying about for Kylian Mbappé, for example.
“He used to just need one or two occasions to score a goal. Now he needs at least five or six occasions to hit the target.”
France have looked out of sorts so far despite their star-studded power and all eyes will be on Mbappe to raise his game.
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