Following PSG’s victory in Nantes (0-2), Saturday evening in Ligue 1, Luis Enrique gave the official version of the absence of Kylian Mbappé on the field at kick-off.
Punishment or simple decision of the coach? After announcing this week to its president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi his desire to leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, Kylian Mbappé was not started by Luis Enrique on Saturday evening, in Nantes (0-2 victory of PSG), on the occasion of the 22nd day of Ligue 1. At the end of the meeting, the Parisian coach justified this strong and unexpected choice.
“It’s both simple and difficult to explain. We played a Champions League match two days ago, we needed energy to perform. It was important to give minutes to those who had not participated. You know, we have ambitious goals. We will need all our players”explained Luis Enrique in a post-match press conference.
A choice by Luis Enrique
It must be said that five changes in total were made by Luis Enrique compared to the eleven which started this week against Real Sociedad in the Champions League (2-0 victory for PSG). Thus, Ousmane Dembélé and Achraf Hakimi were also replacements at Beaujoire. On Parisian coach would have made this strong choice to put the French star on the bench at kick-off if the latter had not announced her departure at the start of the week…
Entering the hour mark, Kylian Mbappé obtained a penalty which he himself transformed (77th). He also regained the captain’s armband when Marquinhos left due to injury (70th). At the final whistle, he went to greet the 500 Parisian supporters who were authorized to travel to Nantes, offering his jersey to one of them.
