Madrid: Kylian Mbappe has acknowledged the growing Ballon d’Or speculation surrounding him after a record-breaking World Cup campaign with France, saying his performances this year make it natural for him to be considered among the contenders.

The Real Madrid forward finished the tournament as the Golden Boot winner after scoring 10 goals, although France ended their campaign in fourth place. Mbappe also moved to the top of the World Cup’s all-time scoring charts, taking his career tally in the competition to 22 goals.

At 27, Mbappe is still waiting to win the Ballon d’Or, the prestigious individual award presented to the world’s best player.

"I think that when you play for Real Madrid, which is the best club in the world, naturally people associate you with that kind of award, they associate you with collective awards, individual awards," Mbappe told reporters.

"A lot of people, when they see me in the street, talk to me about the Ballon d'Or; a lot of people talk about me as a possible Ballon d'Or winner...

"Of course I made a lot of history this summer in the most important competition in sport, but we'll see.

"I have the feeling that it's a good year for that, but there's still a long time to go, and people are free to vote for whoever they think is the best player in the world."

Mbappe joined Real Madrid in 2024 and has continued to produce prolific goalscoring numbers. However, the Spanish giants have yet to secure a major trophy during his first two seasons at the club.

Real Madrid will next turn their attention to the Champions League, hosting Inter Milan on Tuesday in their opening league-phase fixture. The 15-time European champions will be looking to respond after suffering their first defeat of the season, a 1-0 loss to Real Betis in La Liga on Friday.

Mbappe rejects comparisons with Dembele, Raphinha

Real Madrid's squad has faced questions over its balance, with Mbappe and Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior among the star forwards whose overall contribution to the team's collective effort has been scrutinised.

The discussion has been particularly sharp when compared with Ousmane Dembele at Paris Saint-Germain and Raphinha at Barcelona.

"We have to improve," admitted Mbappe. "But I could play dumb and tell you that I score more goals than (Dembele and Raphinha), and that they need to score more goals to be like me.

"Everyone is different, but I want to do things intelligently and say that of course I have to improve and all that, but I don't like comparisons because I think I do a lot of things that others don't do."

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has previously suggested that he would rather see Mbappe score fewer goals if that meant a greater contribution towards winning trophies.

Mbappe said he would be willing to accept a lower goals tally if it resulted in silverware, while arguing that individual goals and team success should not necessarily be viewed as competing objectives.

"I'd take 30 goals with titles, yes, but... for me it's an absurd debate," said Mbappe.

"I always want to score goals and win titles... you don't have to choose, you can do both things."

Mourinho returns to face former club Inter

Tuesday's Champions League clash will also have added significance for Mourinho, who guided Inter Milan to Champions League glory in 2010 at the Santiago Bernabéu before later taking charge of Real Madrid.

The Portuguese coach led Inter to a historic treble that season but said his past association with the Italian club would not affect his approach once the match begins.

"There aren't many (people) left from my time, but it'll always be a pleasure to see people, even if I don't know them, but people who defend Inter, before and after," said Mourinho.

"During the game I want to win, they want to win, and there won't be time to think about things from a wonderful past."

Mourinho is now focused on getting Real Madrid back to winning ways following their defeat to Betis.

"I want to win. I could tell you I want to play well, but I don't want to play well like we did against Betis and lose," said Mourinho.

"Obviously we're in a phase where we play eight games and the objective in these eight games is to qualify, and I think we're going to do that. But I want to think about this match in isolation from that context.

"I want to think about this match as a one-off game. I don't want to think that we still have seven more matches to play, and I want to win."