"I am devastated. I wanted to help the team, but failed."

Kylian Mbappé did

n't even wait to check his pillow reaction. He had just assumed responsibility for the fifth and decisive penalty of the shoot-out in the round of 16 match against Hungary. Failure. Or goalkeeper Sommer was right. It doesn't matter anymore. Mbappé, who lived a peak moment in his career at only 19 years old when he led France in the World Cup conquered in Russia -how to forget his runaway career in the duel against Argentina-, succumbed in this European Championship in which he had to confirm his competitive maturity . In which he should also establish the foundations of a future that appears uncertain, without having renewed a year after concluding his contract with PSG and without knowing if his signing for Real Madrid will ever be possible.

The desolation that imprisons a footballer when he misses a decisive penalty is expansive. It not only affects the protagonist of the story himself, but all that machinery that raised him to the altars.

Roberto Baggio

suffered it in his day

, when he missed his maximum penalty in the final of the United States World Cup in 1994 (that same day, one of the best center-backs in history,

Franco Baresi

, was also swallowed by the hurricane after failing).

Leo Messi

also knew such a sensation

,

when in the 2016 Copa América against Chile he did not know how to defeat the demons that so many times waited for him at the penalty spot. He ended up so unhinged that he promised not to wear the Argentina shirt again. Rectified. The Brazilian

Socrates

he capitulated from the limelight at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Platini

also failed that day

, but few remember him anymore. So did someone as mechanical and accurate as the Englishman

David Beckham

in Euro 2004 against Portugal.

"The sadness is immense after this elimination. It will be difficult to sleep, but these are, unfortunately, the vagaries of this sport that I like so much," Mbappé continued in the message released after the gala elimination. It has been singled out. Even more so considering his discreet statistics in the tournament. He did not score a single goal in his four games (390 minutes in play). He was barely able to add an assist, which he offered

Benzema

in Bucharest. And he concludes the Eurocup with only three shots between clubs. During regulation time of the game against Switzerland, he shot up to six times. None of the times he found a goal. Sommer only had to appear when he had to, to snatch the glory of the penalty.

"There will be a before and after for Mbappé after this June 28, 2021," said the influential

L'Équipe

on Tuesday

. The French newspaper had no mercy, calling his night a "nightmare". The forward has only been able to score one goal in his last ten games for the French national team (it was in a friendly against Wales on June 2).

And now that?

While his scoring records with PSG have been remarkable this season (42 goals in 47 games), Mbappé has had another bitter season with the Parisians.

He lifted the French Cup by scoring one of the goals against Monaco.

Certain.

But, after his remembered exhibition at the Camp Nou (he scored three of his team's four goals in Barcelona), he could not avoid the elimination against Manchester City in the semi-finals of the Champions League (he was lost in the return match at the Etihad ).

And he also saw how Lille took the Ligue 1 title. From here, the haze.

The renewal of his brother

Nasser Al-Khelaifi

, president of PSG, continues to try to convince Mbappé to renew his contract. Last week he even made a strategic move by extending the relationship of his brother

Ethan

, only 15 years old, until 2024. The price of Mbappé's departure this summer will continue to be prohibitive, above 150 million euros. The Qatari owners never made it easy to sell their most precious pieces. Barcelona knew it well when he tried to repatriate a Neymar who finally ended up giving in and renewing last May until 2025.

Real Madrid, after the difficulties suffered by the Covid, cannot assume, at least for now, a pharaonic contract like Mbappé's. Not only because of the transfer price, still unattainable, but also because his salary would also trigger that salary mass that Florentino Pérez has managed to control to date. The white president, in fact, already warned when he presented the Superliga project that the hiring of great stars would be impossible this summer without an injection of money like the one that the new competition project would have offered. But with the football industry being so volatile, the white club will await events in case a gap suddenly opens that allows an offer.

Mbappé is 22 years old.

He has already experienced the best, but also the worst of this sport.

Although nothing as desperate as indecision about the future.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • France National Soccer Team

  • Euro 2020

  • Real Madrid

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  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Live, round of 16 of the European Championship: France - Switzerland

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  • England - Germany, live