“I could play the fool...” Mbappé answers Spanish journalist's comparison with Dembélé

Kylian Mbappé had a sharp answer ready when a Spanish journalist compared his defensive work at Real Madrid with that of Ousmane Dembélé and Raphinha.

Asked whether he and Vinicius needed to improve their defensive effort, Mbappé immediately pushed back on the framing: "Only me and Vinicius?" The journalist clarified that he meant the whole team, citing Dembélé at Paris Saint-Germain and Raphinha at Barcelona as players who press more and work harder.

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Only me and Vinicius?

Mbappé agreed that improvement was necessary, but rejected the idea that the comparison settled the debate. "I could play the fool and tell you that I score more goals than the two players you mentioned, and that they should improve in that area," he said. He added that every player was different and that he wanted to improve intelligently rather than measure himself against others.

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I could play the fool and tell you that I score more goals than the two players you mentioned, and that they should improve in that area

The France captain said he and the rest of the team needed to progress defensively to help concede fewer goals. He also said Real Madrid needed to improve with the ball, describing that process as part of the demands facing a great team that wants to be the best in the world.

Mbappé delivered the response in fluent Spanish at a news conference on the eve of Real Madrid's Champions League match against Inter Milan. The exchange gave Madrid's newspapers another answer to debate, according to the article.

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I do not like comparing myself because I think I do many things that the others do not