Shocking for some, entertaining for others, the images captured by the broadcaster Prime Video, Friday evening during the 24th day of Ligue 1, prove to be unprecedented and worth more than a thousand words. Exited at half-time for sporting reasons – a first since the start of his adventure at Paris Saint-Germain – Kylian Mbappé, replaced by Randal Kolo Muani, indeed offered a show to viewers as well as to the 14,000 supporters present to Louis II. Not thanks to his generally insipid first act against the Principality club (10 lost balls, one shot off target and two small duels won out of six contested) but rather for his remarkable attitude upon returning from the locker room. Showered, once again dressed in his tracksuit and phone in hand, the Parisian number 7 then returned to the boxes of the Monaco enclosure, alongside his mother, while taking the time to offer a selfie to a hostess.
Far from the Ile-de-France bench – and symbolically from PSG – the former nugget of the Asemists finally attended the draw (0-0) of his teammates against the gang of Adi Hütter, attractive but disgusted by the imperial Gianluigi Donnarumma. A behavior drawing, a little more, the existing divide between the Bondynois and the reigning French champion. Already a substitute in Nantes and released shortly after the hour mark against Stade Rennais last weekend, the French international (75 caps, 46 goals) has therefore seen his status change since the announcement of his departure at the end of the season while we revealed to you, on January 7, his intention to join Real Madrid. With this in mind and if the most optimistic initially believed in a physical problem after contact on the ankle with Guillermo Maripan in the 28th minute, the sequence of events finally put an end to this rumor.
Luis Enrique assumes a purely sporting choice!
At the final whistle and without the help of a raised microphone, Kylian Mbappé ran towards the Parisian ultras before jumping over the advertising panels. A gesture making the possibility of an injury impossible, what’s more after having made it clear to Adil Rami, consultant for Prime Video, that everything was fine… at least on a physical level. A version quickly confirmed by Luis Enrique. “Mbappé? I am surprised (by the question, editor’s note). Sooner or later we will have to play without him so I’m trying to find the best option. Sooner or later he won’t play with us anymore. I have to make my decisions”, assumed the Spaniard. Refusing to fuel the controversy, the former FC Barcelona coach thus reaffirmed his authority, having announced a few hours before this clash in Monaco that his team would be “better next season, at all levels, defensively, offensively and tactically”.
If everyone will now have their own opinion on the treatment reserved for the Parisian striker – without forgetting the attitude of the person concerned towards his current club – this new episode reinforces, in any case, the new trajectory taken by the Spanish coach in his management of the Mbappé case. Far from the media outings covered in irony – the Parisian coach had taken a dig at KM7 after his hat-trick in Reims (3-0, November 11) – Luis Enrique is today expressing his desire to deal the top scorer in the history of PSG like any player in the Ile-de-France squad. Orphaned by their star striker, the Rouge et Bleu produced a more coherent performance in the second half, without however deceiving the vigilance of Radoslaw Majecki, who was also very inspired. To confirm this change of status, The Parisian specifies, in this regard, that “the Spanish coach announced, with a simple sentence, to the captain of the Blues that he would give up his place to Randal Kolo Muani, without the slightest explanation”.
Kylian Mbappé keeps smiling, his clan calms things down…
Little interested in the symbolism that this last return to the Principality could represent (several members of the family and a few friends of the Bondynois were notably present for the occasion), on a pitch which saw Mbappé score his first goal in Ligue 1, the ex-coach of La Roja did not give in to the excitement aroused by such an event. “I didn’t see what was happening off the field. “It’s part of the football show, and my show is about what happens on the pitch.”confided in particular the Iberian to the microphone of Free, time to return to the presence of his player in the Monegasque stands. Let us specify, in this regard, that according to the latest information from France Blue Paris, the Tricolor clan indicated that Mbappé’s choice to sit in the stands followed a proposal from a Parisian leader, specifying that they respect the coach’s choices and that Mbappé is fully focused on the trip to Real Sociedad. For his part, The Team adds, however, that the player, despite the smiles displayed, did not appreciate being replaced a second time in a row and that discussions took place after the final whistle between his entourage and certain club leaders.
Relaunched at a press conference, Luis Enrique, for his part, never deviated in his communication, once again assuming this strong choice. “It’s 100% a coach’s decision. I think that, sooner or later, we have to get used to playing without Kylian Mbappé. It’s my decision and it’s a decision that I make with the objective, in my opinion, of obtaining the best for the team.the Iberian then repeated before adding: “I’m not going to get into that game. I am a professional and I have already responded to your colleague and I continue to respond in the same way: there is no problem, for me it is just a question of management and the way In my opinion, I manage the team as best as possible”. And to conclude, with irony, with yet another relaunch: “three questions on the same subject, it’s a hat trick! I have scored hat-tricks in my career and even more during matches, sometimes in the Champions League. So it’s the same answer as before. One day, I scored four goals against Athletic Club de Bilbao, but one was canceled.”.
Four days before the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League against Real Sociedad, Paris Saint-Germain, leader of the championship if we still need to remember, finally had a contrasting evening. Opposed to a conquering Monegasque team and displaying an intensity worthy of the European level, the capital club, benefiting from certain very convincing individual performances (Gianluigi Donnarumma, Lucas Beraldo) had the merit of not breaking down during the latter general repetition. However, and this is where the problem lies, this evening in the south of France marked by the premature exit of Kylian Mbappé will clearly not have established a climate of serenity before returning to the Basques, Tuesday evening, at Anoeta. There then remains a central question: what will be the place of the Parisian number 7 in San Sebastian? On the pitch or on the substitutes’ bench, for the moment no one knows but the idea of a (new) surprise concocted by Luis Enrique cannot be ruled out…
