Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe brutally told he 'will never be thought of as highly as Zinedine Zidane' by France fans

In his maiden appearance at the World Cup in 2018 for France, Mbappe guided Les Bleus to the title and almost won it for a second consecutive time in 2022, but fell short in the final against Argentina. At 26, he already has 12 World Cup goals to his name and is one short of France's all-time tournament highest scorer, Just Fontaine, and four behind Germany's Miroslav Klose, who is the competition's highest-ever goal-scorer. For the France national team, Mbappe has scored 52 goals and is now six goals shy of overtaking Olivier Giroud's all-time highest tally of 57.

Despite achieving so much for France, Mbappe has been brutally told by former Les Bleus forward Djibril Cisse that he will never have the popularity that Zidane achieved among French fans. Speaking to Poker Strategy, Cisse said: "I don’t think Kylian Mbappe will ever be thought of as high of as Zinedine Zidane by the French people, it’s going to be hard for him to get to that level. Mbappe is definitely loved by the people and he is an outstanding player, but Zidane was universally loved by the people of France. I don’t think we will ever see a player reach that like Zidane did and still is. 

"There’s no doubt that Mbappe can become the most decorated French footballer of all time – he’s doing outstanding things at Real Madrid, and they will win many trophies in years to come, but whether he can reach that legendary status Zidane had is another question."

Last month, Mbappe revealed that he would love to see French legend Zidane take charge of the France national team as their head coach after the 2026 World Cup, when Didier Deschamps' contract expires. In an interview with L'Equipe, the Madrid star said: "With him, there's no need to make things complicated. He's Zidane. No one is going to say no. Only he can do it. If it's him, OK! And if it's someone else, OK too. But he's the only one in the history of French football who has almost all the rights."

After a somewhat disappointing debut season at Santiago Bernabeu where Mbappe missed out on winning any major trophies, the Frenchman looks to be on a mission to succeed in the 2025-26 campaign as he has scored 14 goals across all competitions already. He will also hope to replicate his club form in France's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Iceland on October 10 and 14 respectively.