Since the announcement of the shock two months earlier, all the spotlights were on him. Kylian Mbappé did not disappoint in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League on February 15, 2022. It was quite simply he who scored the only goal of the match, thus giving victory to his Paris Saint-Germain against Real Madrid (1-0) and allowing the Parc des Princes to exult after additional time (90th + 4).
Seeing him deal a fatal blow against the club he wanted to join last summer and which awaits him for next season: everyone had this idea in the back of their minds. Except, perhaps, the Madrid supporters parked in the visitors’ stand, who sang to his glory before kick-off to taunt the public at the Parc des Princes. But it happened, and it was so predictable.
Mbappé had however warned everyone on Friday February 11 against Rennes, already offering victory to PSG after 90 minutes spent beating around the bush (1-0). The closer the date of the end of his contract binding him to Paris (June 30), the more essential he seems to the club of the capital. The light sometimes seems to be able to come only from him. When he obtains, at the hour mark, a penalty which could have made it possible to reward the good performance of his team, Lionel Messi misses it (62nd).
First round victorious.
THIS IS PARIS pic.twitter.com/LV771fltYZ— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) February 15, 2022
The whistles of the Parc des Princes towards him seem far away during the 4-2 victory against Strasbourg on August 14. At the time, Parisian supporters wanted him to pay for his desire to join Madrid when the summer transfer window was not yet complete. Now that hopes of an extension in the capital have been rekindled, some will see his Tuesday night stab as a strong sign.
After agreeing to turn his cheek, Mbappé only has followers around him: the Messiah is him. And never had the possibility of losing him seemed so detrimental to PSG as it is today. The 2018 world champion has scored 22 goals for Paris this season, at least 15 more than any of his teammates. He is also directly involved in 48% of his team’s goals in all competitions, if we do not forget his thirteen assists. And in the Champions League, the French international was decisive in the seven games played by PSG.
Tuesday evening, the Auteuil megaphones spent the meeting demanding more noise from the other stands, tired of working alone. The rare moments of communion were caused by Kylian Mbappé, whose slightest touch of the ball in the opposing camp raised the clamor in an enclosure which had not been full for this kind of match for three years.