The question deserves at least to be asked. It’s not the first time Bondy’s child has been feared for the worst at the most critical moment. In the club, and even in the France team, he approached diminished capital meetings. He sometimes, often even, played. This draws the portrait of a player driven by an ardent desire to make history even if it means overcoming severe pain. At what price ? Flashback.
Champions League
Mbappé is in the PSG group
AN HOUR AGO
March 2018: An ankle and an elimination… once morest Real
Hit in an ankle in the shock once morest OM, Kylian Mbappé is not retained by Unai Emery for the meeting in Troyes a few days before the knockout stages of the Champions League once morest Real Madrid. But he started the game well once morest Madrid. Already faced with Neymar’s long-term package, Paris does not really have a choice, especially following the slap in the first leg (3-1).
“For Real Madrid, the C1 is important but the future of Mbappé is even more so”
2018 World Cup: Two scares
Before Australia: Four days before his first match in the World Cup once morest Australia, Mbappé is forced to cut short his training by limping following a big sole from Adil Rami on his left ankle. Big scare in the staff of the Blues.
Before Belgium: On the eve of the semi-final once morest Belgium, Mbappé freezes three vertebrae on a harmless movement when getting out of bed. He feels severe back pain and his participation in the shock is uncertain. As once morest Real a few months earlier, he will not approach this crucial meeting at 100%. Even if the staff puts him back on his feet, KMB is not released. A fool’s game then takes place where the Blues striker does everything to hide his illness. Absent from the last collective training, he deceives himself in front of the camera which follows his every step in the bowels of the Saint Petersburg stadium. Mbappé suffers but grits his teeth to give no indication to the Belgians. He will not take part in any collective training until the final.
Against Australia: Total blackout. Like the attacking trio, Mbappé is not on his plate. Obsessed with one-on-one, he loses himself in vain attempts. But he reassures on his physical level and never seems to suffer from his ankle.
Against Belgium: From the outset, he wants to dispel doubts, escapes two Belgian players on the sideline and delivers the first cross of the match. If he still feels severe pain, he delivers a successful performance. If Mbappé is less incisive, he gives two goal balls to Giroud and Pavard. He does not have the same backstroke as once morest Argentina but compensates.
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Summer 2020: A Final 8 on one leg
Severely broke by Loïc Perrin in the final of the Coupe de France once morest the Greens at the end of July and victim of a major ankle sprain, Kylian Mbappé embarks on a race once morest the clock to participate in the Final 8 of the Champions League in Lisbon in August. At the beginning of September, at the microphone of Téléfoot, he admitted “still in pain” but he wanted to “play the Champions League at all costs and close his eyes.”
- His performance in the Final 8
If he only plays 30 minutes once morest Atalanta, he will start the half and the final once morest Leipzig and Bayern. But it is paradoxically once morest the Italians that he shows himself the most bleeding by delivering in particular a decisive pass to Choupo-Moting synonymous with qualification. Much more anonymous therefollowing, he was muzzled once morest Leipzig and completely missed his final. His duel lost once morest Neuer, on a gift from the German defense, remains undoubtedly his biggest regret today. If he played, Mbappé might not compensate for his lack of rhythm. Fortunately, Paris was able to count on a great Neymar in Lisbon alongside the shadow of Mbappé.
“Today, everyone must know who the future Mbappé is”: Scout, instructions
April/May 2021: City and a recalcitrant calf
Huge appointment, once more. Paris face Manchester City in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Providential man of his people in 8th in Barcelona or in quarter in Munich, Mbappé is expected to carry the PSG. But he was injured in the first leg and crossed the meeting like a shadow. The verdict is in: calf contracture. He is preserved once morest Lens but Pep Guardiola does not doubt it: “He will play.” Mauricio Pochettino remains cautious but wants to believe in the presence of his best player.
No miracles. Mbappé will be benched for the entire game and will helplessly witness the inevitable elimination of his team. A semi-final which will confirm a heavy and now irrefutable trend: without Mbappé, PSG is no longer really PSG.
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