Paris Saint-Germain are breaking up the left flank at frightening speed and suddenly it is three against two. Edinson Cavani slides a pass across the Saint-Etienne defenders, Neymar lets it run to Kylian Mbappe, and a seventh goal for the rampant hosts looks inevitable.
But rather than controlling on the edge of the box and advancing towards the exposed goalkeeper, Mbappe attempts something out of the ordinary: altering his body shape at the last moment, he brings his right boot around behind his standing leg, and curls a sumptuous first-time strike just fractionally wide of the top corner.
The Parc des Princes crowd gasps at the sheer audacity of the shot, and the look of disbelief on Mbappe’s face suggests he knows he very nearly scored the goal of the season.
Kylian Mbappe is no longer France’s boy wonder – many are becoming disillusioned with him
French newspaper L’Equipe led on Tuesday with Mbappe’s lukewarm relationship with PSG fans, which appears to be getting worse – the headline translates as ‘crisis point’
Yet not everybody is impressed. Saint-Etienne’s captain Loic Perrin, a veteran of 17 Ligue 1 campaigns and one of the most respected defenders in the French game, stares daggers at the PSG striker and holds the glare for several long seconds. With the hosts 6-1 up in this Coupe de la Ligue tie, and time running out, Perrin feels Mbappe’s ‘rabona’ was unnecessary showboating and showed a lack of respect.
Whether or not you side with Mbappe or Perrin here, this type of incident has become commonplace in recent weeks. The 21-year-old’s nonchalance has begun to overshadow his brilliance. Since the turn of the year, the Frenchman has clashed with his coach Thomas Tuchel, lambasted his team-mate Edinson Cavani for not passing him the ball, and reacted to criticism from his own fans on social media.
Simply put, France’s boy-wonder – who could do no wrong during his first three seasons as a professional – is beginning to divide opinion in his homeland.
When Mbappe vented his anger at Tuchel after being subbed in the 67th minute against Montpellier on February 1 – the third such show of defiance this season – the German trainer felt it necessary to remind him he is playing a team sport. ‘This isn’t tennis,’ Tuchel fumed. ‘You have to have respect for everybody.’
Former World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry was far more scathing after seeing Mbappe rant at club legend Cavani in the home game against Bordeaux 10 days ago. ‘If I were Cavani, a 32-year-old with 200 goals for PSG, and Mbappe did that to me, I’d have waited for him in the dressing room and given him an almighty f***ing headbutt!’ the ex-Birmingham City star said on RMC radio.
Dugarry’s reaction was extreme, yet even PSG’s fans were questioning Mbappe’s attitude after he disappeared without trace – much like the rest of the team – in the 2-1 loss away to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Scoring for fun in Ligue 1 is one thing, but Mbappe and Neymar were signed for world-record fees in 2017 to take PSG to the next level in Europe. So far, although prolific in the group stages, neither have performed at the business end of the competition.
Mbappe attempted an extraordinary rabona against Saint-Etienne at the Parc des Princes – his extravagant shot did not go down well with his rivals, who felt disrespected by his flashiness
Five days after that first leg in Dortmund, PSG’s Ultras unfurled a banner in the Auteuil stand imploring three players – Mbappe, Neymar and Thiago Silva – to ‘start showing some balls’. Mbappe seemed to be hurt by this. He responded by questioning the message on his Instagram. Then, after scoring two and making another in the 4-0 win over Dijon last Saturday, he opted not to join the rest of the team in saluting the fans.
At a time when the runaway Ligue 1 leaders are trying to extend Mbappe’s contract beyond 2022, this is a contretemps they could have done without.
On Tuesday, L’Equipe’s front page featured a photo of Mbappe standing straight-faced with one hand on his hip in front of a stand of PSG supporters. ‘La Cote d’Alerte’ read the headline, an expression that could translate as ‘crisis point’.
The newspaper’s lead article questions why this charismatic goal machine, who is also a local lad, is not revered by the supporters in the same way that Cavani and Marco Verratti are. ‘He has everything you need to be fan favourite – even more so than Neymar or Cavani,’ a source close to the club is quoted as saying. ‘But it’s true, it’s lukewarm. He doesn’t have his own song, for example.’
Since the turn of the year, the Frenchman has clashed with his coach Thomas Tuchel (left)
The former Monaco forward clearly feels underappreciated. Mbappe grew up in Bondy, a tough, troubled suburb northeast of the capital, and he turned down the chance to join Real Madrid two-and-a-half years ago in favour of representing his hometown team. He was determined to prove himself in France before moving to a European giant – and he’s done that emphatically. The pacy No 7 has been involved in 136 goals in 118 PSG games, netting 87 times and providing 49 assists.
A superstar in France ever since he inspired Les Bleus to World Cup glory in 2018, Mbappe is now very much on course to become the next global phenomenon. Indeed, he is way ahead of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the equivalent stage. By 21, Mbappe had scored 126 goals in 200 games for clubs and country, including 19 strikes in the Champions League. At the same age, Messi had registered fewer than half Mbappe’s tally, netting 51 times in 138 appearances, with eight Champions League goals. Ronaldo had scored 35 times in 176 games but only once in the Champions League.
He has so far been exceptional for PSG, eclipsing Neymar and emerging as the most sought-after footballer on the planet. Yet Mbappe’s legacy in the French capital could well be defined by events at the Parc des Princes on March 11.
France legend Christophe Dugarry was scathing of Mbappe’s rant at Edinson Cavani
Such is PSG’s stranglehold on the domestic game, they are largely judged by their European performances. If Mbappe can rise to the challenge, fire PSG past Dortmund and into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years, his relationship with the fans will take off. If, however, he is outshone by the 19-year-old Erling Haaland one again, the striker’s spell at PSG could well turn sour.
Against a below-strength Manchester United last year, Mbappe fluffed his lines in the second leg. He had just one opportunity on the night, but lost his footing as he threatened to bear down on goal. The day after that humiliating 3-1 defeat, the players were made to train at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 Ultras. Most of them accepted the insults that rained down from the stands, but it is thought that Mbappe was unimpressed and took the shouts of ‘f**k off to Real Madrid’ to heart.
And therein lies the crux of the problem. From a young age, Mbappe has been determined to write his name into football history. According to relatives, he has had his whole career mapped out in his head since he was six: the plan, it seems, has always been to attend the Clairefontaine academy, succeed in his homeland, win the World Cup with France, and become a legend for Real Madrid. His admiration for the Spanish giants is well known, and with reports in France this week claiming that club president Florentino Perez is in regular contact with the Frenchman, his transfer to the Bernabeu would appear to be a matter of when and not if.
That PSG are regarded as just another step in Mbappe’s fiercely determined, single-minded quest for greatness makes it hard for supporters to truly adore him. That could all change of course next Wednesday night. But given the tense atmosphere that has haunted the Parc des Princes in recent weeks, and the bitter disappointments of the last three seasons, PSG’s fans will be taking nothing for granted.
Mbappe remains a superstar, but his days in France could soon end with Real Madrid waiting