With or without Kylian Mbappé?
This was the main question about PSG's starting 11 on Saturday, against Lille.
It was without.
Luis Enrique did without the 25-year-old striker, victim of a rough intervention by Lilian Brassier last Wednesday, against Brest (3-1).
His left ankle had turned badly and the person concerned has not trained with his friends since.
Mbappé was, however, in the group and the Parisian coach declared him “
available
” to face Lille on Friday, at a press conference the day before the match.
Finally, reason took over.
And
“
KM
”
did not even come into play, unlike other starters left to rest before Real Sociedad on Wednesday, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaire-Emery, Vitinha or Achraf Hakimi.
“We didn’t want to take any risks
,” commented the Spanish coach on
Canal+.
We could have done it but it made no sense
. ”
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“
Lucho
”
recalled that Mbappé
“was very lucky”
, as the shock was so violent against Brest.
And added:
“He would obviously have played if it was a final but it was very intelligent on his part and perhaps on mine too to prepare for Wednesday”
.
Interesting to point out that this is therefore a joint decision by Kylian Mbappé and his trainer.
The captain of the Blues is not just any player, that shows... This is not the first time that the former Barça coach has suggested that his hands are not completely free when it's about the ex-Monegasque.
“Kylian wanted to play and when he wants to play, there is not much to say
,” he smiled after the 9-0 victory against the amateurs of Revel, at the very beginning of the year, in the Coupe de France.
In Paris, there is Mbappé and the others.
Read also PSG-Lille notes: Dembélé as detonator, Ramos generous, Alexsandro at fault
Precaution for Marquinhos, choice for Donnarumma
Note that Luis Enrique repeated more or less the same thing at a press conference, explaining that his number 7
“is doing very well physically”
.
Briefly questioned about his future by our colleagues from Canal, the Parisian coach also responded with this pirouette in the form of a prediction:
“An intuition?
We will see it against Real Sociedad
.
That's not bad.
For the rest, Luis Enrique explained to journalists that if Marquinhos did not start, it was because
“
he was a little affected during the week against Brest.
So we thought it wasn’t worth taking the risk
. ”
As for the goalkeeper position, with the surprise tenure of Keylor Navas, he said this:
“Any thoughts for Wednesday?
No, we just need all our players, you never know what can happen in the future.
Keylor Navas perhaps expected to play the previous match (in the Cup) but he played this one.
Gianluigi Donnarumma is a world class player and so is Keylor Navas.
We'll need them.
I want them to be ready.
I don't know what can happen, there are injuries, suspensions, so everyone has to be ready.
So, we have to give them confidence.
Navas brought serenity, he really helped the team (Saturday).”
A priori, Donnarumma should however find his place on Wednesday, just like Mbappé.