The Paris Saint-Germain striker only stayed on the pitch for 45 minutes on Friday, before returning to the stands, a choice made by his coach Luis Enrique.
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We had a more peaceful preparation before heading into the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League. While Paris Saint-Germain travels to Real Sociedad on Tuesday March 5 (2-0 victory in the first leg), the capital club could do no better than a goalless draw on Friday March 1.er March in Ligue 1 in Monaco. More than the content of the meeting, the rapid exit of Kylian Mbappé once again focused attention. The Parisian striker only played the first half, before being replaced, raising fears of an injury, then appearing in the stands at the Stade Louis-II.
The reason for this change ultimately had nothing to do with the physique of the captain of the France team. “It’s 100% the coach’s decision“, reacted PSG technician Luis Enrique at a press conference. The Spanish coach chose to do without his top scorer during the match for the second week in a row, after taking out Mbappé in the 65the minute against Rennes on February 25. The striker had not been replaced in two consecutive matches since October 2022, and we have to go back six years previously to find traces of his exit at half-time of a match with Paris (PSG-OM, February 28 2018), then hit the ankle.
Enough to reinforce doubt and rekindle questions around the relationship between the Frenchman and Luis Enrique since the announcement of Mbappé’s departure at the end of the season, confirmed on February 15 by Franceinfo. “I’m not going to get into that game, for me there’s no problem, it’s the way I want to manage things“, swept the coach. “My job is to make decisions all the time, he supported at Prime Video. My philosophy is to think of the best options for my team. I’m going to do what I think is best for the team. I’m not going to argue, it’s my decision.“
Kylian Mbappé took advantage of this premature exit to greet his former Monaco audience, sign a few autographs, but without subsequently meeting his partners. The Tricolor then sat in the stands of the stadium alongside his mother rather than those of his teammates on the Parisian bench, without speaking.
“Sooner or later, we will have to get used to playing without Kylian Mbappé. I am making this decision for the good of the team”
Luis Enrique, coach of Paris Saint-Germainat a press conference
Visibly annoyed, the Parisian coach described several questions on the subject at a press conference as “hat trick“.”Three questions on the same subject, three times the same answer. Go for a fourth. I never scored a quadruple in my career, they canceled it, I remember it was against Athletic Bilbao“, he preferred to joke.
The former Spain coach and Barça coach also considered his team’s second half, without his star striker, to be much better. “In the first half, our opponent created more scoring chances, but in the second half we really reversed the trend, we were stronger, we could have won, or lost, so the result is fair enough.“
“Yes, it’s a good rehearsal for the Champions League” estimated Luis Enrique. With or without Kylian Mbappé at the kick-off at Real Sociedad? The striker has scored four goals in C1 this season, and opened the scoring against the Basque team in the first leg.