A last one before we go.
Suspended against Lorient next Wednesday (9 p.m., 19th day of L1), Kylian Mbappé will participate this Sunday in his last match in 2021. It will be in Valenciennes, against fans of the Entente Feignies-Aulnoye (N3), in the 32nd finals of French Cup.
A year that has seen him establish himself a little more as one of the best footballers on the planet, even if this has not helped either the France team or the PSG to achieve its main objectives.
Winners of the League of Nations, the Blues failed in the 8th of the Euro, while Paris Saint-Germain, winner of the Coupe de France, had to give up the championship in favor of Lille, and the League of champions, eliminated at the gates of the final by Manchester City.
“
At the end of the day you wonder if it's worth scoring 50 goals if you don't win.
This time, I would prefer to put a little less, make assists and that we take Ligue 1 and C1.
Individual goals are good, but if you don't win, you only half appreciate
, ”he slipped this week on the Parisian club's website.
“I grew up and understood that passing was not going to stop me from scoring. "
Kylian Mbappé
And the assists, Mbappé, 22, distributes them in spades. More than ever. Able to make differences on each acceleration, generally fair in his choices, bleeding in his calls, the crack of Bondy no longer hesitates to put his talent at the service of others. Not that scoring does not help his team, but his skills as a passer open up new perspectives. “
It's something I already had, but lost a bit when I started scoring a lot. It's like fruit juice, the more you drink the thirstier you get (laughs). Afterwards, I think that when you want to be a special player, when you can do both, the goal and the pass, you should not deprive yourself because not only are you making a friend happy, but on top of that, you are unpredictable.
", Rejoices the ex-Monegasque, current best passer in Ligue 1 with eight offerings, plus four in" Champions ".
And to add: "
The advantage is that we do not know if I will shoot or pass.
This is also what we are talking about when we talk about maturity.
I grew up and realized that passing wasn't going to stop me from scoring.
"
Read alsoChampions League: why PSG-Real Madrid will be a burning "Mbappico"
Since the start of the season alone, Mbappé has found the net 13 times in all competitions, in 23 matches. Less than in recent years, but he is directly involved on 25 goals in 2021-22. And again, even when he is not decisive in the statistics, it is often he who creates the gaps and opens the gaps within a PSG in break-in. Enough to make him the central element of the Parisian attack, the boss? The principal concerned rejects this label, affirming that it would be "
daring to proclaim himself boss
" in a team which includes elements like Lionel Messi and Neymar. "
Saying who is the boss, who cares a little ... The goal is to put the three in the best conditions because we are three "game changers", players who can change the game
", said- he recently, in an interview with
Amazon Prime Video
.
Sharing, an obligation
In any case, Mbappé knows well that he has no choice: in this PSG, he must share.
“
When you play with players like Messi or Neymar, on 12 balls you cannot hit 12 times.
It is not possible.
You also have to know how to give to friends, to please them.
And that's normal because these are the players who will bring us, who will help us win,
”he swears.
In this case, "Ney" is still in the infirmary for a few weeks, and Messi will quietly watch this Coupe de France match from his living room, warm.
Read alsoChampions League: PSG's notebook during the group stage
But the principle remains the same: if he is called to play this Sunday, Kylian Mbappé will do what his team needs to win. “
Whenever I thought I could do everything on my own, we did not win,
” he summarizes, he still has to perfect his automatisms with some of his partners, like the “Pulga”. However, the connection between the two is growing, as we have seen in recent weeks. “
We learn to know that such and such a player rather likes to do that or a little less to do something else. When we talk about adaptation in the end, it is also knowing how to analyze your teammates,
”insists Mbappé, believing to have always been“
put in the best conditions to perform
”in Paris.
Before performing under other skies?
His attraction to Real Madrid is no secret.
A shared interest, of course.
In less than two weeks, when Mbappé's contract expires at the end of June, the two parties will be free to discuss.
Will the Champions League draw, with a round of 16 to follow between the two teams in the spring, postpone the inevitable?
Can Paris still reverse the trend and extend its French prodigy as Leonardo still seems to believe?
“The goal is really to win titles, that's the most important. "
Kylian Mbappé
In the meantime, Kylian Mbappé is more than ever turned towards his Parisian goals. Collective objectives obviously, like his game. “
The objective is really to win titles, that's the most important. For now, we are on the right track because we are still in contention in all competitions. There are big deadlines that will come and now that's what we have to prepare for,
”he says. The Feignies-Aulnoye Entente does not represent a "
big deadline
" in itself, but each match is a final in the Coupe de France, it is well known. "
I like playing, always being on the pitch, playing every game, so it's a pleasure to have been on the pitch and to have helped my team
», Said Mbappé after the victory over Monaco (2-0).
He will have another opportunity to do so this Sunday, in a team that promises to be largely upset.