On the departure of Paris SG at the end of the season, Kylian Mbappé can almost count on his ten fingers the number of appearances remaining before bowing out to the lawns of Ligue 1. In twelve matches, the French Championship will lose its main attraction and on Saturday evening, the public at the Beaujoire stadium was not mistaken in enjoying the presence of the world champion one last time.
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The ovation of the Beaujoire public
When he entered in the 62nd minute of play, the striker was entitled to a nice ovation from the 34,000 spectators.
On social networks, the disgruntled people argued that this welcome was more reserved for the exit from the field of Randal Kolo Muani, formerly of the Canaries house (2018-2022).
No doubt also, but the evening still had a special flavor for Beaujoire, happy despite everything to see one last time one of the best players on the planet come into play after having seen him sit on the bench for an hour.
Because the evening did not start well for the Parisian scorer, who arrived at the stadium with a closed face.
In front of the cameras, with his hat screwed on his head, the Parisian star even took advantage of the presence of a camera when getting off the bus to show, sulkily, that he was not happy to have been benched by Luis Enrique.
Sanction against the Bondynois after announcing to his leaders that he would leave the club at the end of the season?
After all, we remember that the management had banned him last summer when he announced that he would not extend his contract beyond 2024. Not at all, the Spanish coach simply wanted to rotate his team after playing Wednesday in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League against Real Sociedad (2-0).
“It’s both simple and difficult to explain. We played a Champions League match two days ago, we needed energy to perform. It was important to give minutes to those who had not participated. You know, we have ambitious goals. We will need all our players,”
explained the Spanish technician.
Read alsoGoals, titles, Ballon d'Or... Kylian Mbappé's figures at PSG
Disappointed not to start the match, Mbappé ended up accepting his fate and the face of the striker alongside his friend Hakimi in the stands gradually opened up as the match progressed.
We even saw Mbappé laughing heartily with the Moroccan international, his lifelong accomplice.
The little whim became ancient history when Luis Enrique called the best player of his team at the hour mark while PSG had just scored a goal against the Canaries, by Hernandez (1-0, 61st).
More than one goal per match in Ligue 1, exceptional ratio
Stirring, Mbappé needed a quarter of an hour to increase the score on the scoreboard by obtaining a penalty which he transformed (2-0, 78th).
An achievement which allowed the future ex-PSG player to bring his total of goals in 20 matches to 21.
An exceptional ratio that the international, who obviously did not comment after the meeting, will try to maintain in the coming weeks at the Parc des Princes, six times, and away, six times too.
Then the time will come to close Kylian Mbappé's enchanted parenthesis in Ligue 1.