Luis Enrique’s decision to replace Kylian Mbappé at the break of the Monaco-PSG match leaves many observers doubtful. With hypotheses to boot.
Why did Luis Enrique decide to leave his star in the stands when Paris Saint-Germain failed to find the fault on Friday evening, on the AS Monaco pitch? Substituted at the break, Kylian Mbappé obviously did not understand and preferred to go watch the rest and end of the match alongside his mother in the stands, rather than on the Parisian bench. At a press conference, the journalists asked the question to the coach who simply talked about sporting choices, without further explanation. Enough to make some of them think about the why and how.
Among them, Grégory Schneider. The journalist of Release admitted his astonishment at the decision taken by Luis Enrique. He opened up about it on the set of the channel The Team., just after the meeting. “ There is something that intrigues me and I don’t have the answer, that’s why he decides to put on such boxers before a Champions League match? I ask the open question. What happened to them? Because that’s all we’re going to talk about. It’s been an hour and twenty since we started (the show), that’s all we talked about. What possessed them to light that hearth? I do not see why .»
Masked bullying or motivational technique?
In response to this question, his colleague Hervé Penaud tried: “ It’s Luis Enrique, in a way. It often worked like that. He loves fighting, he doesn’t like heads sticking out at all. » Enough to relaunch Grégory Schneider: “ Mediatically, you create tensions and problems. Doesn’t he decide to prick Mbappé somewhere? I don’t know. There’s something I’m missing. » While the return match of the round of 16 of the Champions League will be played on Tuesday against Real Sociedad, did Luis Enrique really choose to take out Mbappé to tickle him a little and motivate him?
The explanation seems a bit far-fetched and it could be neither more nor less that the Spanish tactician is acting in the direction of a request from his management, upset by the choice of Kylian Mbappé to leave at the end of the season. PSG had already shown last summer that it was ready to severely punish the Bondynois, although he was its leader and its best element, by excluding him from the Japanese tour and the start of the championship after the player refused to activate the third year which was optional on his contract. A few months later, are Luis Enrique’s decisions new hidden bullying or a simple strategy to get the best out of Mbappé? Everyone will have their own opinion.
