Mbappe's Family Night at Lille: Behind the Scenes of a Lille-PSG Moment
9 October 2025
Mbappe's Night at Lille: A Family Moment
Kylian Mbappe, the Real Madrid forward and captain of the France national team, opened up about his attendance at Lille against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week, during Ligue 1's seventh round.
About 24 hours after contributing to Real Madrid's 3-1 victory over Villarreal on the previous Saturday, Mbappe was seen in the Lille stands beside his father Wilfried Mbappe.
Mbappe celebrated with noticeable warmth when his younger brother Ethan Mbappe scored Lille's equalizer, making it 1-1 in the 85th minute and denying the Parisians valuable points in their bid for the Ligue 1 title this season.
Mbappe and his younger brother Ethan left PSG in the summer of 2024 after refusing to renew; Mbappe moved to Real Madrid on a free transfer, while the Parisian club reportedly did not offer a first professional contract to Ethan, who is 18.
Mbappe is currently with the France squad as the team prepares for two matches against Azerbaijan on Friday at the Parc des Princes, then a visit to Iceland on the following Monday, as part of the European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Les Bleus sit atop Group D with 6 points, followed by Iceland in second with 3 points, while Azerbaijan and Ukraine are level on one point each.
France, a two-time world champion in 1998 and 2018, could seal qualification for the 2026 World Cup with two wins in October.
Mbappe told a press conference on Thursday, “Tonight was better, because I wasn't a player under pressure to perform; the atmosphere was fantastic.”
The PSG record-scorer added: “I wasn't supposed to come, but Ethan asked me to attend, so I showed up as a supporter of my younger brother, happy for him that he scored and helped Lille secure a positive result against the best team in France and Europe.”
Mbappe concluded: “I didn’t mean to overstate that the match was against PSG, but Ethan Mbappe is at a club that welcomes him, respects him, and makes him feel valued.”
Mbappe's Career Snapshot
Mbappe began his football journey with a club in the Paris suburb of Bondy before moving to Monaco’s academy, progressing through the youth ranks to the first team and contributing to Monaco’s Ligue 1 title in 2017 under Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim.
He scored 16 goals in 41 appearances for Monaco, prompting Paris Saint-Germain to sign him in the summer of 2017 for a record €180 million, making him the most expensive French player in history.
Over seven years at the Parc des Princes, Mbappe won all major domestic titles—Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue, and the Trophée des Champions—netting 175 goals in 205 Ligue 1 games before moving to Real Madrid on a free transfer.
Yet the grand dream of the UEFA Champions League crown eluded him at PSG, with a runners-up finish in 2020 as Bayern Munich triumphed in a final played behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
In his Real Madrid spell, Mbappe has tallied 40 goals in 42 appearances since joining on a free transfer in summer 2024, winning one trophy—the UEFA Super Cup shortly after his arrival.
For France, Mbappe has 52 goals in 92 international appearances and helped the Blues win the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2021, with bronze in the Nations League final 2025. He has been captain since early 2023 after retirements of major stars such as Hugo Lloris and Raphaël Varane, while older teammates like Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud have since retired; meanwhile midfielder Paul Pogba has largely been out of the spotlight since a suspension linked to doping allegations.
As for Ethan Mbappe, the younger brother is a midfielder who featured in five PSG games last season under coach Luis Enrique before the club let him go; he joined Lille and has appeared in 18 matches across the current and previous seasons, scoring two goals there.
Punchline 1: If Mbappe’s career were a playlist, the bangers would be unstoppable—and the remixes would still finish with the same goal anyway.
Punchline 2: And if football ever needed a family business plan, the Mbappes would file it under “scoring, assisting, and keeping the drama classy.”
