The end of the party at Real Madrid

There are times when communication strategists wish they had some secret card to play in case things go wrong and turn ugly in this ever-turbulent world of football.

They like to have some wild card to discover in case they come wrong and this is entertaining.

It makes you feel for a moment inside that wonderful series that was

until, one day, you yourself become the wild card and fall at the stake.

I thought about all this while I saw Mbappé at the press conference for his renewal by PSG and its president Nasser Al Khelaiffi celebrating this new contract as if it were a title.

One of those great and exclusive.

Of those who deserve a place in the museum of any club.

And he may even be right to celebrate it with that big smile, because the Frenchman is a player you can trust to help you get to the big cup, for example.

We already knew that same situation when Neymar took his suitcases and showed up in Paris to wear the same colors as in Barcelona, ​​but with fewer stripes on his shirt.

A signing to mark times and times of happiness for the Parisian lands.

Times that now seem over... or very close to ending.

What am I going to tell you about that other situation with Messi.

Messi, Neymar, Mbappe.

Not on the PlayStation.

A collection of the best cards, of those that were always the most difficult and those that there was no way to obtain.

I already say that we are not going to even hint now after many months of being sure that he would play in Spain that Mbappé is not an extraordinary player.

Enormous.

But he has shown some skills in

, feinting, feinting and unchecking, always with a smile, that he even spoke to us in Spanish.

And while he was keeping the ball, we were at that point where if you put your foot in to steal it, it's a penalty, and you lose the player, and if you let him continue with the slalom, he knocks you down with a last subtle touch, as happens to all those goalkeepers who are left with the feeling that they had the play controlled until they see the ball in the net.

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But I wonder, perhaps because I would ask myself if I were in their shoes, if when the Champions League anthem sounds at the Stade de France on Saturday and Real Madrid and Liverpool line up for that photo of the final with the Cup In the middle, the feeling, the idea, the fleeting and flashing idea, that he should have solved the play with another resource, with another hit, will not pass through Mbappé's head, not even for a second.

Certain and sure that PSG will once again put together a competitive team and will put together an excellent squad.

It is true that it will once again be a feared team in the Champions League hype.

It is true that Paris is a city that speaks in Mbappé's ear and he knows how to understand it.

It is true that France will welcome him with applause everywhere except Marseille, of course.

All very true, but I keep wondering if somewhere in that competitive brain there isn't a moment when the switch is flipped that turns on a

Let him be left a minute, maybe two, awake and wondering if his decision has been correct.

And I can already assure you that not even a ton of millions of euros are capable of silencing that timid, tenuous and persistent voice.

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