Kylian Mbappé ran to celebrate in front of the Paris Saint-Germain team that attended Montjuïc, where his team overcame a Barcelona that had been better until the unfortunate expulsion of Ronald Araújo. On Tuesday, without having a great game, Mbappé scored two goals – one from a penalty and one with the luck that a rebound fell to him – and gave the French team a place in the Champions League semi-finals, in which it is presumed It will be his last season at his hometown club.
Far away, in the north of England, a day later, Real Madrid eliminated the current champion, Manchester City, in a match in which they were largely dominated by Josep Guardiola’s team that shot 34 times and barely got a goal in return. In the penalties, the king of the Champions League recovered from the first missed charge by Luka Modric, and then saw how Andriy Lunin stopped two shots and the whites did not fail again.
It is not difficult to find similarities between these two stories. Kylian won and scored two goals in a match in which his offensive work playing from the right took a backseat amid Luis Enrique’s plan to put pressure on Barça and make it difficult for them to get out from behind. Madrid played an ultra-defensive game, a style that many purists consider unworthy of the largest club on the planet, since, among other factors, they only had 36 percent of the possession. In the end, it doesn’t matter. They both passed.
Mbappé already announced his departure from PSG at the end of the current season. “No, no, no,” he replied. Donatello to the question about whether an eventual Orejona with PSG would change his future, after qualifying for the semis. Everyone speculates that he will go to Madrid, but nothing can be predicted with complete certainty after the several threats he has made to wear white. On Tuesday, with that same color, he presented his credentials in Barcelona, against the archrival Madrid. Here he applied a phrase that has become fashionable among the press that applauds the team chaired by Florentino Pérez: “wink at Madrid?”
For now, the only thing left is “what happens if…”, what happens if the Spanish and French meet in the Final – they are favorites in their respective match -, what happens if when they face each other, Mbappé comes to have friction with Real Madrid players, what happens? if Kylian wins the Champions League against Madrid… This would be a factor in a decision that, according to countless Spanish, French, Italian, and English media, has already been made a long time ago, but would not be announced until the moment one of the two teams will be left out of the Champions League. In that scenario, a hypothetical final between the old team and the one that will be the new, there was already a German, Mario Götze, who missed the title duel between his Borussia Dortmund and the team for which he had already signed due to injury: Bayern Munich.
Götze watched the game from the stands due to a tear in his left thigh. The curiosity towards his figure in the Wembley stands – the same place where the final will be played this year – captured the cameras during the game. Finally, his new team won the Orejona: what do you feel? The defeat of your team that you couldn’t play with one last time or the victory of the club you just joined as a figure? What a complex thing…
For now, Mbappé did a huge favor to Real Madrid, because by qualifying with PSG for the semi-finals, not only did it mean the elimination of Barça, but it also meant that the third possible title that it played this season (Spanish Super Cup, Copa del Rey) escaped. and Champions), and left him very touched ahead of Sunday’s classic in LaLiga, at the Bernabéu, in which he is second with 8 points behind Madrid, with 21 points in dispute; and an additional factor: the culé dressing room was agitated after the statements of Ilkay Gundogan, who blamed Araújo for the defeat, something that the Uruguayan center-back responded with an uncomfortable silence. A white victory against the Blaugrana will leave the championship on a plate for Carlo Ancelotti’s men; In France, a victory for PSG against Lyon will do the same for the Parisians who would be 13 points ahead of Brest (who already played) and at least 11 over Monaco, with 15 in dispute.
The Mbappé case has to end. Nothing is eternal. However, good novels always have a dramatic twist at the end.
