Mbappe: “At 14, I trained with Real. Zidane picked us up in his car and I thought - ‘do I take my shoes off?’

Kylian Mbappe revealed the moment he was star struck by Zinedine Zidane. A young teenage Mbappe was invited to train with Real Madrid in Spain after his father had received a call from the club. To the youngster’s great surprise, it was the Zinedine Zidane himself who was at the airport to pick up the player and his father. The anecdote was shared via Kylian Mbappe’s post on the Players Tribune:

“Then, right before my 14th birthday, I got an incredible surprise. My father received a call from someone at Real Madrid, inviting me to come to Spain for a training session over the holiday break. It was a shock, because they actually told my father, “Zidane would like to see your son.” At the time, Zizou was the sporting director. Of course, I was over the moon. I was desperate to go.

But it was not so simple, actually, because scouts were starting to come to our matches, and I was getting some attention from the media. When you’re 13 years old, you don’t know how to handle it. There was a lot of pressure, and my family wanted to protect me.

But it was actually my 14th birthday that week, and what I didn’t know is that my parents were organizing everything with the club so that they could take me to Madrid as a present.

Quite a surprise for me!

And believe it or not, we didn’t tell anyone where we were going. I didn’t even tell my closest friends, because I was too nervous. If things didn’t go well, I didn’t want to come back to my neighborhood and disappoint them.

I will never forget the moment that we arrived at the training center from the airport. Zidane met us in the parking lot by his car, and it was a really nice car, of course. We said hello, and then he offered to drive me over to the field for training. He was pointing at the front seat, like, “Go on, get in.”

But I just froze and I asked,“Should I take off my shoes?”

Hahaha! I don’t know why I said that. But it was Zizou’s car!

He thought that was really funny. He said, “Of course not, come on, get in.”

He drove me to the training pitch, and I was just thinking to myself, I am in Zizou’s car. I am Kylian from Bondy. This is not real. I must still be sleeping on the airplane.

Sometimes, even when you are really living something, it feels like a dream.”

It’s clear that Real Madrid, and in particular Zidane, have been after Mbappe’s talent for years and years. It seems the young Frenchman is destined to play for the club one day and to play for his French idol, Zidane.

To read Mbappe’s full written piece for the Players Tribune, use the link below:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/kylian-mbappe-a-letter-to-young-kylians