Mbappé shuts down journalist comparing his pressing to Dembélé's

Kylian Mbappé raised his voice at a press conference on the eve of the clash between Real Madrid and Inter Milan, the first group-stage fixture of the Ligue des Champions, responding bluntly to a journalist who compared his pressing to that of Ousmane Dembélé and Raphinha.

It all started with a question posed to the French striker: should he and Vinicius Jr improve defensively? Mbappé began by expressing surprise at being singled out alone — “Just me and Vinicius?” — before the journalist cited Dembélé and Raphinha as pressing models. The reply came swiftly: “If I wanted to be stupid, I could tell you that I score more goals than the two players you mentioned, and therefore they should score more to be like me.” The Real Madrid player quickly corrected himself, acknowledging that he must improve defensively, but on his own terms: “I don’t like comparing myself, because I do a lot of things that others don’t.”

The jab at Dembélé, his France teammate, did not go unnoticed. Mbappé nevertheless tempered his remarks by broadening the criticism to the entire Madrid squad: “The whole team must improve defensively, and with the ball, we also need to raise our level.”

Later in the same session, the subject of PSG resurfaced. Some observers have drawn a link between Mbappé’s departure and Paris Saint-Germain’s two consecutive victories in the Ligue des Champions under Luis Enrique. The former PSG player dismissed the argument with a remark that says much about his relationship with criticism: “I don’t know everything about football, but I know more than many. Sometimes it’s not the analysis that matters, but what sells. Talking about me sells.”

These comments come at a delicate moment for Mbappé, whose adaptation to Real Madrid is being closely scrutinized following a mixed start to the season. The match against Inter Milan will be a first significant European test to gauge his integration into Carlo Ancelotti’s system.