From our special correspondent in Dortmund,
The grimace escaped no one. That was surely the goal, moreover, when you know the character a little. Kylian Mbappé appeared very frustrated on Wednesday evening at the final whistle which confirmed PSG’s draw on Borussia’s pitch, and at the same time the Parisian club’s second place. For ten minutes, the vice-captain had been trying with big gestures to shake up his teammates to go for the win – and therefore first place –, but they were not quite in the same state of mind and did not. They were never used in the depths while he multiplied the calls, preferring to keep the ball nice and warm, as Luis Enrique had asked them.
We saw the Spanish coach, along the line, several times placing his hands flat in the direction of his players to tell them to calm things down a little. Which he perfectly accepted at the press conference: “ I didn’t see the score [du match entre Newcastle et le Milan AC] until the 85th minute. Afterwards, we knew that the Milanese were leading and that that qualified us, so I asked our players to control the ball a little more, to take less risks. »
Little arm or not?
Little arm, when the German defenders’ hood was seriously starting to smoke after a match spent running behind the Parisian arrows and a small goal could have changed the club’s European spring? The Kyks seem to think so, and we can ask ourselves the question after hearing the great speeches of Luis Enrique and Marquinhos the day before on the theme “we are Paris, we want to win everywhere, we come to finish first”. The Brazilian defender also admitted after the match, “qualifying was the second objective we had, the first was to get first place”. So why lower the flag like that at the end of the match?
Fear, quite possibly. The Parisians spent part of their evening eliminated and transferred to the Europa League, and we don’t have to believe them when they say that they were unaware of what was going on at St James’Park. So after finding themselves so close to the void, they said to themselves that it would be a shame to ruin everything in the last minutes. “We didn’t have to concede a goal, that was the first thing, the most important,” defends Gigio Donnarumma, who saved some more against the Germans. “It’s already good to qualify, after the complicated situations we experienced,” its president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi said just before at the Canal microphone.
Luis Enrique can only agree, he who felt the wind from the force 8 cannonball on the back of his neck throughout the match. “Finishing second in this difficult group is a success,” he said after the match. In his defense, with a luckier Barcola, a more inspired Kolo Muani or a more skillful Lee Kang-In, the Asturian would not have needed to tie knots in his brain like that. The Parisians, if they also left a few boulevards behind which Borussia could have taken advantage of, had a carload of opportunities to fold the match and confiscate first place before the break.
An annoyance that will leave its mark?
This is perhaps also what Mbappé expressed at the end of the meeting. Supposed to carry his team in this kind of decisive match, the crackito still remained silent on the outside, despite a bigger opportunity than him saved we still wonder how by Süle and three caviars squandered by Kolo Muani and Hakimi. A quarter of an hour from the end, he also believed he was the expected hero when he coolly deceived Kobel before the video detected an offside and sent the emotional elevator all the way down.
Will this perceptible annoyance have repercussions on PSG in the days or weeks to come, or is it just a little sulking with no future? Luis Enrique took care to clear the mines, in any case. “It’s normal for the players to be frustrated, we had five chances to score, five! When a player is frustrated, it is my role to manage this tension,” said the Asturian.
Tuesday, The Team assured that the future of Mbappé, whose contract ends next June, was not directly linked to the club’s European career. On the other hand, we can think that his understanding with the coach embodying the new project put in place last summer will have an impact. It would be better for everyone if both men pulled in the same direction.