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Kylian Mbappé is an artist.
His craft is magic. He brings that to the pitch in the form of show-stopping finishes. Creativity has always come naturally for French superstar. Goal-scoring is his greatest form of innovation. His right foot is akin to Monet's brush.
But around the time a ball was first put at his feet, his parents introduced other instruments. Mainly, the flute.
On wanted to learn more about the origin of Mbappé's creative mind.
"My parents wanted me to do many things, and to explore many things, to open my mind, to do all the things, because you never know what's going to happen," Mbappé explained on "FOX After Hours with James Corden."
Mbappé said his parents first encouraged him to play the flute when he was 7-year-old. He "tried to" stick with it for two years, he said, but ultimately moved on.
Corden thought he should bring that hobby back. So as the two shared a carpool, Corden brought out a flute for Mbappé to play. His skills, unfortunately, didn't stand the test of time.
"I lost everything," he said.
Corden had another idea.
"Maybe this could be a new celebration?"
"I'll do it for you, first game," Mbappé replied. The two shook on it.
On Tuesday when France played its 2026 FIFA World Cup opening match against Senegal, Mbappé followed through on his deal with Corden.
In the 65th minute, he produced a sublime finish to give France a 1-0 lead. He then ran to the right, stopping on a dime where he usually does his patented crossed-arms celebration, but instead he started playing the flute.
Mbappé's heroics didn't stop there. Moments after Senegal scored to cut France's margin to 2-1, Mbappé found the back of the net from outside the box, curling a strike off his right foot and into the top corner. With the brace, he surpassed Olivier Giroud for the most goals scored on the French National Team with 58. He also now sits three goals short of passing German forward Miroslav Klose for the most World Cup goals of all time.
At just 27-years-old, Mbappé has made history, and is on the precipice of creating more. That journey started almost 20 years ago when he traded his flute for a futbol, and started creating melodies with his foot.
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Kylian Mbappe 
France 
FIFA Men's World Cup WC – France vs. Senegal – 06/16/2026
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