There was already Neymar and Lionel Messi was added this summer, but Kylian Mbappé is the strong man of Paris Saint-Germain this season. If it wasn’t already obvious enough, he took it upon himself to recall it on Friday evening against Rennes (1-0) by offering victory after additional time to a team which had not yet targeted a single shot.
Tuesday, February 15, all eyes will be on him during the knockout stages of the Champions League between his PSG and Real Madrid, at the Parc des Princes. And not only because he should face his future club. At a time when the capital club will play the most important match since the start of their season, they will need their striker badly, without whom little will happen on the pitch in 2021-2022. He proved it in the Champions League, a competition in which he was decisive in each of the six group stage matches.
Mauricio Pochettino does not want to talk about it. Whenever he was asked about a possible “Mbappé addiction”, the Argentine coach always brushed off the question with an agreed sentence. This was already the case on May 9, 2021 after a draw in Rennes (1-1), five days after the elimination in the semi-finals of C1 against Manchester City, without Mbappé: “We must not think that an absence prevents us from winning the match. We were just worse than our opponent“.
This season, Kylian Mbappé has scored 21 goals with Paris. Beyond the nice total, it is simply three times more than the club’s second top scorer in all competitions (Lionel Messi has 7 goals). In addition to being the club’s top scorer, he is also the best passer (13 in total) and also sits in the category of last passes before a shot. Whether at the conclusion or in construction, he is the project manager.
His absences are particularly palpable, as in Lorient in December (1-1) or during the Champions Trophy against Lille in early August (1-0 defeat). When he is not a starter, Paris only wins 20% of his matches this season (1/5) against 76% when he is present on the pitch at kick-off (22/29). PSG also goes from 2.3 goals per game to 0.8 when he is not a starter.
The more his departure this summer seems inevitable, the more Kylian Mbappé seems indispensable in the capital. As a reminder, his contract expires in June. If he does not extend by then, the one who has been retained against his will in the offseason will be free to commit where he sees fit in June, without his future team having to pay a transfer fee. If Paris does not cross the step of the eighth, Tuesday’s match could be Mbappé’s last in C1, with PSG, at the Parc des Princes.
His influence is particularly felt because of the shortcomings of his teammates in the attacking sector, from the procrastination of Mauro Icardi to the difficult beginnings of Lionel Messi, passing through the recurring absences of Neymar. It is not because he cuts through the Parisian chaos that this should not obscure the fact that Kylian Mbappé is on the basis of the best season of his career. It’s not all about contrast.
Kylian Mbappé is directly involved in 34 goals with Paris in all competitions this season (21 goals, 13 assists). Only one player does better with a club from the 5 major European Championships: Robert Lewandowski (37 goals, 3 assists). The third in the standings is none other than Madrid’s Karim Benzema (24 goals, 9 assists), with whom he will start a match in the match on Tuesday.