🚨🎙️ Pau Cubarsí on his heated altercation with Kylian Mbappé after El Clásico:
🎙️Reporter: We noticed an intense moment between you and Mbappé right after the final whistle. What was that about?
🗣️Cubarsí: Yes, I’m not going to pretend everything was fine. It actually started during the game when he stepped on my toe and couldn’t even apologise. I confronted him about it, but the referee came between us, so I left it there and continued playing. Then, after the final whistle, he came towards me and started saying things I honestly didn’t appreciate.
🎙️Reporter: What exactly did he say to you?
🗣️Cubarsí: He told me, “Take your loss, you loser.” Honestly, that made me angry because I can accept losing a football match. We’re disappointed with the result, of course, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to disrespect me.
🎙️Reporter: And what did you say in response?
🗣️Cubarsí: I told him to shut the fuck up! Because if someone is going to lecture me about what it means to be a loser, Kylian Mbappé is certainly not the person I want to hear it from. I reminded him that we have competed on the international stage, and I’ve won both the World Cup and the Euros. Since he came to Spain, we’ve also competed for trophies in La Liga, and Barcelona have won major honours during that time.
So, please, don’t stand in front of me after one victory and act like you have achieved everything while I have achieved nothing. I respect him as a footballer, but respect has to go both ways.
We lost today, and we’re disappointed. I’m not hiding from that, and I’m not making excuses. But I have never needed to provoke Mbappé or insult him to prove myself. I play my football, I compete, and I accept the results.
What I won’t accept is someone disrespecting me simply because his team won one game. You can celebrate your victory without trying to humiliate another player. That’s all I have to say about it.