Overview
- Mbappé, who spoke Thursday on the podcast The Bridge, said the fallout from his missed penalty against Switzerland in June 2021 included a wave of racist insults.
- He said people called him a monkey and described the days that followed as a brutal shock that left him feeling like a dead man while on holiday.
- After the abuse, he told then–federation president Noël Le Graët he no longer wanted to play for France, but Le Graët urged him to stay.
- Mbappé reversed course and returned to the national team, starting against Bosnia on September 1st, 2021, and he remains a leading figure for France and Real Madrid.
- His public account highlights persistent racism in football and raises fresh questions about how the French Football Federation responds to player welfare, with no new measures reported.