Kylian Mbappe is in the place he wants to be. In Real Madrid, in his dreamland; in the galaxy of his idols, Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo. He is smiling more; he is joyful and relaxed, almost liberated from the gold-caged prison that PSG was in the last few years, the French newspapers would diligently note. It’s how France wants him to be in the European Championship, a smiling and happy Mbappe, unshackled and unchained, in the freest of spirits, in the mood to sweep away every human obstacle in his path. “A happy man is more likely to play well,” he would say before the friendlies, ahead of the European Championship.
Last European Championship, he was not in the place he wanted to be. The world was not in a space it wanted to be, picking broken pieces of life from the pandemic, stumbling in fear. He might have been just a victim of his circumstances, as the world around him; he failed to score in all four games of his country; had just 14 tries at goal, of which only four were on target. Later he fluffed a spot-kick in the round of 16 shootout defeat against Switzerland. When he walked back to the tunnel, spectators abused him racially. “They called me a monkey,” he would say. When he checked his phone, he discovered a volley of messages with racial undertones in his social media accounts. He cried that night. A sole assist (penalty in the group against Portugal) and a delightful back-heel pre-assist for Antoine Griezmann to set up a goal in the Switzerland game were but rare flickers of fire in a frosty tournament for him.
His form pained him; the criticism ripped him apart. “I received the message that my ego was what made us lose, that I wanted to take up too much space, and that without me, therefore, we might have won. The most important thing is the French national team and if the French national team is happier without me, I’ll go,” he would say before the next season, in a moment of rare emotional outpouring.
But France would cajole back their unearthliest talent since Zidane. A year later, he netted a hat-trick of more steel-will rather than silken-skill in the World Cup final, a night where he ended the most tragic of tragic heroes in football folklore. In reality, there is a note of melancholia in his career. He was only 19 when he held the World Cup aloft, but thereafter, precious silverware has cruelly tantalised him. Second-place finishes in World Cup and Champions League, a heartbreaking European Championship, a continuing streak of unfulfilled renown in Champions League, endless years waiting for the transfer to Real Madrid. Boredom of the pointless pursuit of stacking titles, accolades and trinkets of trophies in the French league. Suddenly, the teenager is a full-blown adult, 25, going on 26. Where are the trophies? Where is the glory? Where is the Ballon d’Or?
Of course, Mbappe is still 25, nudging to his peak years, the best yet to be. But with outrageous talents like him, the expectations are thrust too much too soon. It’s the fate of all super-athletes, the scales that measure their success and failure are more stringent than they are for lesser talents. So six barren years outside of the French league title was a slight at his inability to inspire his team. It cannot be further from reality, but that is the capricious burden of being an otherworldly talent.
The dark years, though, are long gone. Mbappe is freed of the clutches. He is France’s captain and talisman. These days, manager Didier Deschamps has given him a free roaming role on the left, much like how Barcelona and later Argentina let Lionel Messi be. Rather than tweaking his fellow forwards to enable the optimisation of Mbappe’s gifts, he has picked a forward-line that is naturally programmed to ally him. Olivier Giroud is a physically-imposing link-up man, a master at dragging the defenders to the back-line and providing Mbappe with the cut-backs. The young and pacey Randal Kolo Muani’s movement off the ball is imperious, he forces the defenders deeper and creates space behind him for Mbappe to rampage; Marcus Thuram does both. Resultantly, Mbappe assumes a more central role when in possession.
The frontline has not quite synced in friendlies against strong nations, and teams have looked to exploit Mbappe’s free-roaming role and defensive vulnerabilities, by overloading the left-flank when in possession. England almost pulled off a coup in the World Cup quarterfinal by attacking Mbappe. The strategy carried risk, if Mbappe somehow managed to win the ball, he would be in acres of space and would blitz past them. But such a strategy would take a huge degree of precision and courage to pull off.
Besides, it’s not just Mbappe that the opponents have to stop. Muani is a trickster with twinkle toes. Ousmane Dembele could flick on the afterburners on the right wing; Griezmann, in many ways Deschamps’s Man Friday, has evolved into a sublime No 8, performing various duties of play-making, disrupting and goal-scoring with ease and finesse.
Deschamps, ever the man behind the scenes, insists his is a team rather than a collection of brilliant individuals and that no one is more equal than others. But Mbappe is an exception, more so because he would crave for redemption in the European Championships, which he considers tougher than the World Cup, and he is where he wants to be at the moment. Happy, smiling, and ready to take on Europe.
*****
Palace of Versatility
Formational flexibility: Since the start of the 2022 World Cup, Didier Deschamps has persisted with a back four on all but one occasion. His forwards are so versatile that they could be deployed in a variety of roles and functions. Mbappe could be the lone front-man, a false nine, an inside left, or a wide winger. Muani can play on either flank, or drop back as a double No 10 with Griezmann. The latter could perform a variety of roles with equal efficiency, a 10, an 8, or a deep-lying playmaker with an exceptional positional sense. Not to forget, he can slot anywhere into the forward line too. There is pace (imagine Deschamps throwing in Kinglsey Coman too into the pack), subtlety, creativity, and flair.
Midfield maestros: The bad news for opponents is that as if France’s midfield was not versatile enough already, now N’Golo Kante, though playing in Saudi Arabia, is “back to beast mode”, according to the manager. There is no shortage of central midfield generals who can dictate the game’s tempo, both of the pass-master and hard-tackling brands. Among the array of established stars such as Griezmann, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni (returning from an injury) and Adrien Rabiot, watch out for PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery too. How this midfield could fail would be a mystery that could catch the fancy of Fred Vargas, the queen of French crime fiction and archaeologist.
N’Golo Kante. (AP)
Defensive depth: Raphael Varane’s international retirement injected temporary instability but Deschamps quickly covered the cracks, installing Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate at the heart of it. That Arsenal centre back William Saliba is their third choice attests to their depth. The biggest strength is a variety of those who could don multiple roles. Both Jules Kounde and Benjamin Pavard could slot play as full backs or centre-backs. France often go with an attack-minded left-back (to supplement Mbappe) Theo Hernandez and the more defensive-bent Jules Kounde on the right (he could play in the centre too). But if he wants more pace on the right flank, he could summon the exciting Jonathan Clauss of Marseille as well. Worse news could be that all have an eye for the goal, with feet and head.
