"Only interview he hasn't done in France is with the Mickey Mouse magazine!" - Pundit slams Kylian Mbappe after failed Ballon d'Or campaign

Kylian Mbappé finished second behind Harry Kane in the 2026 Ballon d'Or, and Canal+ pundit Bertrand Latour says the placing overstated his case, calling the French captain's campaign lobbying rather than football.

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, 33, won at the London Palladium on Monday 26 October, becoming the first Englishman in 25 years to take the award. Mbappé was second, with Barcelona's Lamine Yamal third.

Speaking on Canal+'s Late Football Club after the ceremony, Latour said he was glad the jurors had not given in to the demands of a superstar, and accused Mbappé of trying to force his way to the award. Latour appeared to take a dig at the French attacker regarding the number of interviews he had given before the ceremony.

“Only interview he hasn't done in France is with the Mickey Mouse magazine!” Latour said after the ceremony.

He added:

“Football is played on the pitch,” Latour said. “Win matches, win trophies, earn the respect of your teammates, show some class.”

He called Mbappé a major player who scores 40 goals a year, and said he would win the Ballon d'Or if he wins trophies, and claimed he pushed for nothing in a year where he didn't win any team trophies with his club or his country.

His sharpest criticism was for the order behind Kane.

“I don't even understand how he's ahead of Lamine Yamal,” he said. “For me, it's a robbery.”

A day earlier, on Canal Football Club, Latour had said a Mbappé win would have been the Ballon d'Or of shame.

No public response from Mbappé or Real Madrid was available. The jury's reasoning has not been published.

Mbappé's numbers in the Ballon d'Or voting period: 42 goals and no team trophies

Mbappé's case rested on volume. He scored 42 goals in 44 appearances for Real Madrid in 2025-26, including 25 in 31 La Liga matches, which made him the division's top scorer, 15 in 11 Champions League games, the competition's leading tally, and two in his only Copa del Rey appearance.

He also won the World Cup Golden Boot with 10 goals, and his two goals in France's 6-4 third-place play-off defeat by England took him to 22 World Cup goals, a record.

The trophies did not follow. Real Madrid finished second in La Liga, eight points behind Barcelona, lost the Copa del Rey round of 16 to second-tier Albacete, lost the Spanish Super Cup final to Barcelona and went out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals to Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane's Bayern Munich.