Kylian Mbappé, who played his last Champions League match at the Parc des Princes with Paris SG on Tuesday evening against Dortmund (1-0 defeat), generally missed the match which could have been the pinnacle of his career at the club before move to Real Madrid.
Since the leak to the press of his departure this summer, the day after the double confrontation against Real Sociedad in February, where he scored three goals, Kylian Mbappé has not had any great match in the premier competition.
Even his double at Barcelona was overshadowed by the performances of Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola and Vitinha.
Tuesday evening was like the culmination of the divorce with Paris that began last summer with his letter announcing that it would not extend.
One sequence in particular showed that Kylian Mbappé may have irremediably dropped out of the Parisian collective.
In the 38th minute, the Parisians took advantage of a timeout to go drink and receive final instructions from the staff. But the superstar remained alone, several dozen meters away, to play the touchline. Captain Marquinhos sprinted to talk to him, then Gonçalo Ramos.
The latter’s surprise tenure, however, had given Mbappé his preferential position on the left wing. But the feeling that he was not having a great evening quickly appeared.
Far from being galvanized by the melting public at the Parc des Princes, Kylian Mbappé completely missed the first act. Nothing he tried was successful: weak shot to catch a ball from Ousmane Dembélé (7th), ineffective rake to take the ball from midfield (15), failed dribble leading to a recovery by Dortmund (17) or a ball out (25), loss of a new ball on a failed control (27), then on a failed deflection (30)…
No respite
Mbappé perhaps also saw his career at PSG slip away when he took too weakly at point blank range a cross – admittedly clumsy – from Fabian Ruiz. Gregor Kobel easily grabbed the ball (34th).
The slip in the area of number 7, two minutes later, symbolized the failures of his first half of the match.
Dortmund also knew how to muzzle him in the rare moments of danger that he was able to bring; like when Ryerson then Brandt chased him to prevent him from hitting while he was refocusing (31). And veteran captain Mats Hümmels often stood on him to discourage any attempt to dribble.
Kylian Mbappé wanted to change the course of things, to eliminate his apathy after returning from the locker room. In the second half, undoubtedly aware of having to let his teammates shine because he was too closely watched, he showed himself altruistic by delivering two crosses in particular. One could have led to a goal but Warren Zaire-Emery found the post from close range after a deflection from Gonçalo Ramos (46th).
He also had the opportunity to shoot during a moment of respite but his distant position forced him to lift the ball too much (73rd). The moment before, Bradley Barcola, who came on in place of Ramos, had hesitated to pass him on a counter-attack, a sign of some form of doubt about the state of form of his elder brother.
The failures returned with force at the end of the match. The signal was sent by a missed backheel in the 79th minute, then immediately a close angle shot pushed back by Kobel. Then with a recovery which strangely bounced before crashing on the bar sealed its ineffectiveness. That he collapsed in the area at the very end of the match without collecting a penalty, after having failed to get ahead of the central hinge of the “BvB”, seemed almost anecdotal. But he fell on his own again when he was thrown deep by Barcola in the last second of the match.
Mbappé’s performance, hands on hips at the final whistle, raises questions all the more as Paris did not fail in creating several chances. The only sin was the finishing and in this register, the club would have liked to count on the man with 43 goals this season.
