After the doubts, the concern for Kylian Mbappé. While he had started the meeting associated with Lionel Messi, the crack of Bondy will have spent only 20 short minutes on the meadow this Wednesday evening in Montpellier. Touched in the back of the left thigh after a resumption of support, which followed the shock a few moments earlier with the Héraultais Léo Leroy, the tricolor international (66 caps, 36 goals) could not regain his place in the field.
“I injured myself on a support”
The 24-year-old striker tried to continue, unable to sprint, before sitting down on the Mosson lawn and demanding the change. After being examined for a few moments by the club doctor, he was replaced by Hugo Ekitike (22nd), before returning to the locker room standing, but grimacing. In the corridors of the stadium, leaving the lawn, on the images of Canal +, we hear him complaining: “I injured myself on a support, ah I have too much pain”.
Kylian Mbappé got off to a bad start to the evening in Montpellier by missing two penalties, taken in quick succession, at the start of the game. One on the left, the other on the right (10th).
The seriousness of the muscle glitch affecting the Paris Saint-Germain star striker remains uncertain at this stage, but it is a tile for Christophe Galtier and his staff who really did not need it at the moment. Since the return to the World Cup in Qatar, the technician has struggled to find the right formula. But he could at least count on the talent of the UFO Mbappé to get out of difficult situations.
It’s a hard blow when big deadlines are looming. PSG not only travels to Marseille in the Coupe de France on February 8, but above all it challenges Bayern Munich in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League on Tuesday February 14 at the Parc des Princes.
“It doesn’t seem very serious”
The race against the clock is already starting for Mbappé. We remember that he missed PSG in the C1 semi-final return to Manchester City on May 4, 2021, following a right calf contracture. The former Monegasque is not affected in the same area this time. “On a tackle, he took a hit to the knee and behind the knee. Is it a contusion or a hematoma? We don’t know yet, confided Christophe Galtier after the success in Montpellier. Then to continue by giving news of Sergio Ramos, injured in the left adductor. “It does not seem very serious for either of them. They are two very important players and there is this calendar. On what we saw at half-time and after the match, there is no concern. »
It is rare to see KMB join the infirmary like this. He would even tend not to stay there for long in general, which would reassure observers of the Parisian club. This season, despite a small alert two weeks before the World Cup, he only missed the first day in Clermont through injury due to groin pain.
Last season, he only missed one league game for an ENT infection. If we go back to history, his longest injury absence with PSG dates back to the start of the 2019-2020 season. An eternity. Nearly a month off for a hamstring injury, before experiencing a thigh glitch the following month. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself this time…