In an interview with RMC Sport, France and PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe gave a long and thoughtful answer when asked about the role ego plays in the life of a world-class athlete.

“Of course it is important because, when you are in difficulties, nobody other than yourself is going to push you. And you need to be able to persuade yourself that you are capable of moving mountains. People don’t understand ego but when you are not feeling good, there is nobody who is going to come to you to tell you that you are capable of doing this or that. There is only you and your mindset. There is only you. You have to be able to persuade yourself that you are capable of doing great things.”

“Each time I enter the pitch, in my head I always tell myself that I am the best and that is taking into account that I have shared pitches with Messi and Cristiano. They are better players than me, they have done a billion more things than me. But in my head I always tell myself that I am the best because like this you don’t put any limits on yourself and you try to give the best of yourself. Of course, sometimes people don’t understand because I think that there is also this barrier that is created by this topic, where we don’t really explain what an ego is.”

“For people, ego is just not giving your friend the opportunity to take the penalty, to have a better salary than a player in a rival team. It is not just that, it is also in your preparation. It is something personal, to surpass ones self, that goes well above this superficial thing to say: “Me and I, me and I.” But I think there is quite a lot to say on that.”