We had known that for some time. But the victory of Paris Saint-Germain in Marseille (3-0), Sunday February 26 at the end of the 25th day of Ligue 1, definitively confirms the axiom: there is a PSG without Kylian Mbappé and a PSG with it.
Deprived of its attacker, Paris, ghostly, had sunk on February 8 in the Coupe de France (2-1), engulfed by the Marseille commitment in the cauldron of the Vélodrome stadium. For this second round in the championship, the conditions of the experiment were more or less the same. A slightly more bitter cold with a few snowflakes in the Provençal sky but an equally warm atmosphere in the stands, where 65,800 spectators were present, attendance record broken.
OM’s ambition seemed intact, reinforced by the possibility of coming back to within two points of the Parisian leader in the standings, and finally challenging him for the title. But this time, Mbappé, the “Bondy kid”, was present on the lawn. And it took less than half an hour to bring the Marseille defense to its knees. Before crucifying her at the start of the second period to end the match with a record of two goals, an assist and seven shots including four on target. A performance that once again shows how impervious the French striker is to public pressure as well as to that of the stakes.
“A player from another planet”
“He is a player from another planet”, agrees Igor Tudor, OM coach. For the Croatian, the difference between Paris Saint-Germain outclassed in the Coupe de France and the one who has just punished his team is in three elements: “Their attitude, their motivation, their number 7”. The one worn by a certain Kylian Mbappé.
“He is surely one of the best players in the world. He goes fast. Everything he does, he does with great intensity. He is present in the big meetings ”, notes, for his part, Christophe Galtier, the coach of PSG. Who, diplomat, does not forget to salute « la performance collective » from the rest of his team. For his part, the Parisian president, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, at the origin of the miraculous contract which has meant that his attacker has not yet left the capital, savors: “I am very proud of him and proud that he is at PSG”.
A few hours before the match, while the most fervent of Marseille supporters were preparing the tifo of the south bend − the spectacle which marks the entry of the players − Agathe, in her twenties, student and member of the South Winners, perfectly summed up the general feeling at About the Parisian striker: “I don’t like it, but I can’t help being afraid of it. “ A fear reinforced by the absence of two of the most successful defenders of Olympique de Marseille since the start of the season, Chancel Mbemba, suspended, and Samuel Gigot, injured. A fear similar to that which paralyzed the players of Bayern Munich, two weeks earlier, when Kylian Mbappé came into play in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League at the Parc des Princes. Missing, with two goals disallowed, to tip the match (0-1).
You have 47.93% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.