Aurélien Tchouameni hosts one of French football's most compelling media ventures in The Bridge — a monthly podcast that sits players down for the kind of honest, unscripted conversation the sport rarely produces. Thursday's episode was its most high-profile yet.
Kylian Mbappe and Achraf Hakimi joined Tchouameni on the show, and what followed was 90 minutes of genuine revelation. Mbappe spoke publicly and in depth for the first time about the racist abuse he received after missing the decisive penalty against Switzerland in the round of 16 at Euro 2021, a miss that knocked France out of the tournament and triggered an avalanche of online hatred.
"I was walking like a dead man," Mbappe told Tchouameni. "The monkey insults started coming and I just felt empty. I had let everyone down and then on top of that, this." The Real Madrid forward was characteristically direct, acknowledging that the moment remains one of the most painful of his career — not because of the penalty itself, but because of what followed.
The conversation arrived at a particularly resonant moment. Just days earlier, Lamine Yamal — Mbappe's Spain-based contemporary — had issued a statement condemning anti-Muslim chants directed at Egypt fans during a Spain friendly at the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona. Football's relationship with racism is very much a live conversation. Mbappe's honesty on The Bridge added weight to it.
Hakimi was equally candid about his own low point in football. The PSG right-back spoke about falling into depression during his first season in Paris after the arrival of Lionel Messi changed the club's tactical setup and reduced his role dramatically. "I came from Inter, from Dortmund — I was a different kind of full-back, one who attacked and scored," Hakimi said. "Then Messi arrived and the whole project changed. My first season there was very, very difficult."
Hakimi also addressed Morocco's controversial AFCON title — awarded after CAF stripped Senegal of the trophy following their refusal to continue playing during the final. Tchouameni presented him with a replica trophy on set, and then — in a light-hearted reference to the infamous incident where Moroccan ball boys were seen trying to take Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy's towel — gave him a towel. "We are very happy," Hakimi said. "I have been waiting for this moment for a long time."
Mbappe also responded to questions about his family and the media's portrayal of the "Mbappe clan." He was measured and clear. "My parents just protected the dream of their child who wanted to become a great footballer. They were a shield, like any parent would be. It's just that their child became what I became."
The Bridge continues to do what very little else in European football media achieves — get these players talking like human beings.
