Tarrago sharply rebukes Latour over 'Ballon d'Or of shame' jab at Mbappé

L’Équipe journalist Sébastien Tarrago publicly took aim at his colleague Bertrand Latour after the latter called a potential Kylian Mbappé win at the 2026 Ballon d’Or a ‘Ballon d’Or of shame’ on Canal+, arguing that the Real Madrid forward had not won enough major titles to deserve it.

Speaking on RTL in the show On refait le match, Tarrago did not spare his former colleague, whom he nonetheless describes as a friend. “The Ballon d’Or of shame, and once again I love Bertrand, he knows it, he’s a friend, but it’s a shameful statement in this case. We can’t allow ourselves to say such things,” he said.

To support his defense of Mbappé, Tarrago recalled the France captain’s performances at the World Cup and in the Ligue des Champions, arguing it was impossible to downplay his level based solely on his personality. “How can we possibly say it would be the Ballon d’Or of shame? It’s not possible to say such things. We’re confusing everything with Kylian Mbappé, absolutely everything.”

At the heart of his criticism, Tarrago points to a growing confusion between Mbappé’s public image and his actual sporting value. While he concedes the player can sometimes be irritating, he refuses to let that spill over into an evaluation of his footballing qualities. “The character can be irritating, I hear that, and sometimes he irritates me. His statements can be irritating, even if that’s not the case for me. It’s not just Bertrand. It’s a little tune we hear in France. We’re confusing everything—he irritates people, so suddenly he becomes a mediocre footballer. He’s an extraordinary footballer.”

Bertrand Latour’s outburst, which had not yet been publicly answered at the time of publication, illustrates the growing polarization of the debate surrounding Mbappé in French media, where the line between sporting judgment and opinion on the personality seems increasingly blurred.