Former France star slams Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe over Ballon d’Or campaign: ‘He lost control’

Former France star slams Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe over Ballon d’Or campaign: ‘He lost control’Real Madrid firmly believed that their superstar attacker, Kylian Mbappe, had a chance to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or in London last Monday.However, the Frenchman lost out to Harry Kane, with the Bayern Munich striker lifting the prestigious individual accolade.Mbappe finished just 28 points behind the Englishman, the narrowest margin by which a player has lost the award.Meanwhile, the Frenchman has been receiving some criticism over the manner in which he promoted his individual achievements.Lizarazu questions Mbappe’s attitudeFormer France international Bixente Lizarazu did not hold back when discussing the Real Madrid superstar.Speaking to Franceinfo after the ceremony, he questioned Mbappe’s attitude towards putting himself ahead of the team.“I defended Mbappe a lot last season, when he was still being heavily criticised from all sides,” Lizarazu said (h/t RM4Arab).Kylian Mbappe has copped some flak for his actions before the Ballon d’Or. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)“He had a good World Cup, and I thought he was consistent in his role as France captain, with a message focused on teamwork. But during the Ballon d’Or campaign, he completely lost control.”“I didn’t like the direction he took at all. He became too focused on individual matters, showed a lack of humility and engaged in self-promotion, somewhat ignoring the others.”The former defender added: “We were left with the impression that he was the only one who mattered, as though the others didn’t exist.”Lizarazu believes goals are not enoughLizarazu also questioned why Mbappe’s individual numbers had not translated into collective success for his team.“Kylian Mbappe has gone through periods when he hasn’t managed to make his team win,” he argued.Mbappe will hope to win the Ballon d’Or next year. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)“He scores a lot of goals, but he has to make his team win. That is the most important thing.”This was one of the major factors that eventually worked against the Frenchman in the final Ballon d’Or results.For all of Mbappe’s impressive numbers last season, he was not able to win a single piece of silverware for either club or country.However, blaming one individual for a team’s failure to win trophies would be equally unfair. Mbappe did everything he could.His brace against Barcelona is the perfect example of how Mbappe steps up in big games more often than not.Under Jose Mourinho, Madrid also seem to be building the team around Mbappe to help bring trophies back to the Bernabeu.If Mbappe goes on to have a similar season to last year and also lifts trophies, no one can stop him from winning the Ballon d’Or in 2027.