Captain of a France in which some of his colleagues such as Ousmané Démbélé and Marcus Thuram had already raised their voices against the advance of the far right led by Marine Le Pen, Kylian Mbappé also joined this Sunday for a cause that already brought thousands of French people to the streets on Saturday. Mbappé, making his debut as captain in a great competition, He called on his fellow countrymen to vote in view of the parliamentary elections on June 30 to strengthen the cordon sanitary preventing a victory for Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's designated candidate for the National Rally. “I am against the extremes, against those who sow division. There are young people who abstain, I want to send them this message. Your voice changes things. I want to be proud to defend a country that represents my values. This is more important than tomorrow's match because the situation in the country is different. “I believe in the values of mixing, tolerance and respect,” said the new Real Madrid player.
Crowned with a white cap, a day before France makes its debut at the European Championship against Austria, a country where the far right also suffered blows in the European elections, Mbappé's speech was unremarkable. “I think we are at a crucial moment in our country: we are citizens first and we cannot be disconnected from the real world. It is an unprecedented situation and I want to appeal to the people, especially the young people. We see that the extremes are approaching in the center of power and I ask the young people to vote. We must identify with the values of this country.”
Mbappé admitted that the matter ended up entirely in the French team's dressing room: “We spoke to each other because of the message that could be given. Also to protect young people, no one cares about the situation, but it is normal that it costs them more because it is not easy to sit here and talk about these issues in front of journalists.”
“We must identify with our values, which are values of diversity, tolerance and respect, and that is undeniable for all French people. I know that there are many young people who say yes, but that one vote changes nothing, on the contrary, every vote counts. I really hope we make the right decision and I hope we continue to be proud to wear this shirt,” Mbappé continued.
Asked whether his teammate Marcus Thuram had gone too far when he spoke out against Le Pen's party on Saturday, Mbappé reinforced the position of one of his best friends: “He spoke about values, diversity, tolerance, respect. Of course I'm with him. For me it didn't go that far. “I think we are still in a country where there is freedom of speech and he gave his opinion and I agree with him.”
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