France have been to the World Cup Final in each of the last two tournaments, and after being the wunderkid en route to victory in 2018, Real Madrid star center forward Kylian Mbappe nearly did it again in 2022 as the focal point of the attack.
But in the years since then, Mbappe's reputation has fallen. He was pushed out of Paris by Luis Enrique after the manager saw that Mbappe did not want to put the team before himself and work for his teammates as opposed to getting in their way, and while Real Madrid fans were eager to have the superstar the Santiago Bernabeu and chalked it up to Enrique being the problem, the diehard Madridistas have quickly found out that their former Barcelona rival was 100 percent right.
Mbappe is coming off the worst stretch of his career with injuries, poor finishing, even worse work rate, and attitude problems beginning to rear their ugly head. For most Real Madrid fans, the fact that PSG have won back to back Champions League titles since his departure while Madrid have not won a single title, despite Mbappe winning two hollow Pichichi trophies, is no coincidence.
The Kylian Mbappe red flags are there
While Real Madrid fans have felt alone while the world still fawns over Kylian Mbappe, they are hoping for some vindication this summer at the 2026 World Cup. And just from the reaction during the friendlies, it appears French national team fans and the wider world are beginning to see exactly what Madridistas have been complaining about.
Clips on social media are circulating of the way Mbappe is playing, and just like at PSG and Real Madrid now, he is getting in the way of the other stars in the team. Rayan Cherki, Michael Olise, and Ousmane Dembele all had better seasons in 2025/26 and actually won major silverware, and they should be equal partners to Mbappe, who gets to start up top over the Ballon d'Or winner Dembele's preferred position.
But instead of playing with everyone else, Mbappe is hogging the middle of the field, taking up space from other players, not working hard on defense, not passing when others are open, and not taking up positions in the box a striker should.
The result is France look a bit disjointed, and superstars like Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele who are competing higher in the Ballon d'Or race than Mbappe are losing their shine. And France national team fans are starting to worry about an Mbappe problem.
Everyone will have to see how things play out when the World Cup actually begins for France on Tuesday against Senegal, but Real Madrid fans are just waiting to see everyone else in the world catch up and either vindicate them, apologize to them, or both.
Add us as a preferred source on Google