Kylian Mbappe is set to face Paris Saint-Germain for the first time since his departure from the French club a year ago, as Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid faces its most significant challenge yet in Wednesday’s Club World Cup semi-final.
Mbappe is rightly regarded as a PSG legend after spending seven exceptional seasons there, leaving the club as their all-time leading scorer with 256 goals in 308 appearances.
However, his legacy has been somewhat marred by the circumstances of his exit, with many feeling that during the latter half of his tenure in Paris, he was merely biding his time until he could make a move to Madrid—his childhood dream club.
PSG, under the leadership of Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi, have expressed displeasure over how Mbappe opted to let his contract run down, resulting in them missing out on a transfer fee.
This has led to a protracted legal feud, with Mbappe asserting he is owed €55 million (approximately $64.4 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses from his time in Paris.
A recent development emerged when one of Mbappe’s lawyers informed AFP that the French captain has withdrawn a claim of moral harassment against his former employers.
This followed news from the Paris prosecutor’s office last month regarding an investigation launched after Mbappe lodged a complaint about his treatment by PSG during the summer of 2023.
He alleges that he was excluded by PSG and compelled to train with players whom the club intended to offload after he declined to negotiate a new contract.
Mbappe missed a pre-season tour to Japan and the beginning of the new campaign before being reintegrated into Luis Enrique’s squad.
Considering his remarkable performance during his first season at Real, it should have been easier to move on from all of that.
The 26-year-old, who was part of the World Cup-winning team in 2018, has netted an impressive 43 goals in 56 matches across all competitions for his new club by the end of the La Liga season.
Nevertheless, Mbappe’s participation in the Club World Cup has been affected by a stomach illness that required hospitalisation, leading to him missing the entire group stage.
Could This Be His First Start?
During his absence, promising young forward Gonzalo Garcia has stepped up admirably, starting all five matches in the United States and contributing four goals to the team’s efforts.
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The last match featured Garcia scoring the opener in the 3-2 quarter-final victory over Borussia Dortmund at the MetLife Stadium on Saturday, but it was Mbappe who ultimately secured the win with a stunning overhead kick as he came off the bench in stoppage time.
“He’s not at his peak yet, not 100 percent, but he improves every day,” Alonso remarked about Mbappe post-match.
“Now, he has three days to continue progressing ahead of the semi-final.”
It’s hard to envisage Mbappe not receiving his first start of the tournament against PSG, the club that clinched the Champions League in the season after his departure, putting behind years of European disappointment.
Fresh off a commanding 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, PSG arrived in the US ready for the match.
They advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in Atlanta during the quarter-finals, despite having Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez sent off, proving they are not intimidated by Real.
“The opponent in the semi-finals is irrelevant. What truly matters is that we are here and determined to reach the final,” stated Luis Enrique, who also finds this match significant due to his five-year stint at Madrid as a player in the 1990s.
Alonso, having just taken the reins at Real after a successful term at Bayer Leverkusen, has already demonstrated remarkable tactical adaptability, switching between a back four and a three-man defence throughout the tournament.
It will be intriguing to see which formation he chooses and whether Mbappe will start, as he prepares to face PSG for the first time since July 2017, when he was still a dynamic teen at Monaco.
Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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