Last May, Kylian Mbappé put forward a theory to explain the difficulties of Argentina and Brazil recently in the World Cup.
The Blues striker wondered about the overall level of play in the South American zone, which he said did not favor preparation for the very high level of the Seleção and the Albiceleste during the four-year meeting.
“
The advantage we have, we Europeans, is that we play among ourselves with high-level matches all the time, such as the Nations League for example.
When we arrive at the World Cup, we are ready, where Brazil and Argentina do not have this level in South America.
Football is not as advanced as in Europe.
That's why during the last World Cups,
it is always the Europeans who have won.
»
The international's remarks had made some South American players jump, and in particular Lautaro Martinez, the Inter Milan striker, deeming this analysis "
unfair
".
It's Brazil coach Tite's turn to react.
The Seleção boss expressed his disagreement with the 2018 world champion by confiding in ESPN.
“
He may be talking about those Nations League clashes or those European friendlies, but not the World Cup qualifiers.
Sorry, we don't have Azerbaijan to play against.
Here, there is no one to bring you water.
In the qualifiers, these are all games with a very high degree of difficulty, much higher than this group stage in Europe.
»