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Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe said Monday it was natural for people to consider him as a potential Ballon d\u2019Or winner this year after his World Cup exploits.<\/strong><\/p>\n The France captain scored 10 goals at the tournament this summer to win the Golden Boot, with his country finishing fourth, and has netted 22 in the competition during his career, making him the World Cup\u2019s all-time top scorer.<\/p>\n Mbappe, 27, has not yet won the prestigious trophy given to the world\u2019s best player.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that when you play for Real Madrid, which is the best club in the world, naturally people associate you with that kind of award, they associate you with collective awards, individual awards,\u201d Mbappe told reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people, when they see me in the street, talk to me about the Ballon d\u2019Or, a lot of people talk about me as a possible Ballon d\u2019Or winner\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I made a lot of history this summer in the most important competition in sport, but we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n \u201cI have the feeling that it\u2019s a good year for that, but there\u2019s still a long time to go and people are free to vote for whoever they think is the best player in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Since joining Real Madrid in 2024 Mbappe has scored huge quantities of goals but the club has failed to win a major trophy.<\/p>\n On Tuesday the record 15-time European champions host Inter Milan in the Champions League in the first match of the league phase.<\/p>\n During Mbappe\u2019s first two years at Madrid the team has appeared unbalanced, with too many star names, including the Frenchman and Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior, widely considered not to be contributing enough to the team effort \u2014 in contrast to Ousmane Dembele at Paris Saint-Germain and Raphinha at Barcelona.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to improve,\u201d admitted Mbappe. \u201cBut I could play dumb and tell you that I score more goals than (Dembele and Raphinha), and that they need to score more goals to be like me.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is different, but I want to do things intelligently and say that of course I have to improve and all that, but I don\u2019t like comparisons because I think I do a lot of things that others don\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho recently said he would prefer if Mbappe scored fewer goals but also worked hard to help the team win titles.<\/p>\n Mbappe said he would accept lower numbers if it led to trophies, but noted they were not mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d take 30 goals with titles, yes, but\u2026 for me it\u2019s an absurd debate,\u201d said Mbappe.<\/p>\n \u201cI always want to score goals and win titles\u2026 you don\u2019t have to choose, you can do both things.\u201d<\/p>\n Mourinho faces old friends<\/strong><\/p>\n Veteran Portuguese coach Mourinho led Inter to Champions League glory in 2010 at the Santiago Bernabeu before he departed to take over at Real Madrid.<\/p>\n Despite his history with the Italian side, whom he steered to the treble that year, the coach said that only mattered before and after, but not during the match.<\/p>\n \u201cThere aren\u2019t many (people) left from my time, but it\u2019ll always be a pleasure to see people, even if I don\u2019t know them, but people who defend Inter, before and after,\u201d said Mourinho.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the game I want to win, they want to win, and there won\u2019t be time to think about things from a wonderful past.\u201d<\/p>\n Mourinho wants his Madrid players to bounce back from their first defeat of the season, 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday in La Liga.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to win. I could tell you I want to play well, but I don\u2019t want to play well like we did against Betis and lose,\u201d said Mourinho.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously we\u2019re in a phase where we play eight games and the objective in these eight games is to qualify, and I think we\u2019re going to do that. But I want to think about this match in isolation from that context.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to think about this match as a one-off game. I don\u2019t want to think that we still have seven more matches to play, and I want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n