France and Paris Saint-Germain star, Kylian Mbappe has admitted that he tells himself he is better than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo before matches as he feels it’s important to have an inflated ego.
Mbappe has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence at Paris Saint-Germain over the past four years and many football fans feel he is the man to take over as the best player in world football when Messi and Ronaldo finally retire.
According to Mbappe, 22, seeing himself above the Barcelona star and Juventus striker is a self-motivation tactic, saying it’s necessary if you want to reach the highest level of the game.
“The ego? Of course, it’s important because when you’re in the rough, no one else is going to push you,” Mbappe told RMC Sport.
“And you have to convince yourself that you are capable of toppling mountains.
“People don’t understand ego but when you are not well there is no one who will come to your house to tell you that you can do that. It’s just you and your mindset. It’s just you. You have to convince yourself that you are capable of doing great things.
“Every time I go on a pitch I always tell myself that I’m the best and yet I have played on grounds where there was Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They are better players than me, they have done a billion more things than me. But, in my head, I always tell myself that I’m the best because that way you don’t give yourself limits and you try to give your best.”
Mbappe added “Of course, sometimes people do not understand because I think there is perhaps also this barrier which is created in relation to this subject, where one does not really explain what the ego is.
“For people, the ego is just not giving a friend a penalty, having a better salary than the player of the rival team. It’s not just that, it’s also in the preparation. It’s a personal thing, to surpass yourself, it’s way beyond that superficial thing of saying ‘me, me’. But I think there is quite a bit to be said about it.”
Mbappe has already won ten domestic trophies, including four Ligue 1 titles, while scoring 150 goals across all competitions.
He is also a World Cup winner, however, Messi and Ronaldo have shared 11 Ballon d’Or’s between them over the last 12 years.
