No one knows more than Marc-André Ter Stegen the damage that Kylian Mbappé can do to a goalkeeper.
The last two - and only - times that the German had faced the Frenchman, he had to fetch the ball from the back of the net four times.
Parisian supporters remember it: it was on February 16 and March 10, 2021, the successful Champions League round of 16 which saw the Bondynois sink FC Barcelona almost single-handedly, notably scoring a hat-trick. anthology in the first leg (1-4) at Camp Nou.
This Saturday, March 23, the two men met again, as a preamble to the highly anticipated Champions League quarter-final which will be played out in the air of eternal revenge between PSG and Barça in a few days (10-16 april).
But this time, in the jersey of the France team, Kylian Mbappé did not have the same success, nor the same enthusiasm.
Like all of Didier Deschamps' flock, surprised by a German team a notch above in desire and intensity (0-2), the PSG n°7 missed out on his meeting , and a great opportunity to mark the spirit of the opposing goalkeeper in view of the April game.
Two chances and that's it
The captain of the Blues, however, had situations to hurt.
Two, precisely, his only two strikes of the match which came a few minutes apart in the middle of the first period.
The first in the 22nd minute: well placed to receive a cross from Ousmane Dembélé, after good work on the right, Mbappé controls his chest but just misses his recovery, which goes wide.
The second, barely three minutes later: after a quick combination on the left with Lucas Hernandez, he found himself in a good position in front of Ter Stegen but decided to steal his ball, very easily deflected by the Barcelonan.
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Beyond these two occasions, Kylian Mbappé had all the difficulty in the world to express himself against an airtight German defense and will not have given Ter Stegen more nightmares than that.
There is no doubt that neither will attach too much importance to this international friendly meeting in the context of their future confrontation in the Champions League, which will have a much greater stake.
But eighteen days from finding him in another jersey, Marc-André Ter Stegen will perhaps have taken a semblance of psychological ascendancy or will have, at least, a surplus of confidence on the basis of this first round won on points .