Kylian Mbappe will play his final game for Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes when they host Toulouse on Sunday, their first match since being eliminated from the Champions League. First appearance.
PSG’s pursuit of elusive European glory will continue into the new year after losing to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals as they lost 1-0 at home in the second leg on Tuesday, finishing 2-2 on aggregate. -0 miserably.
It means Mbappe will not get the send-off he had hoped for in the Champions League final at Wembley on June 1 and will end his seven-year tenure at PSG without ever winning a place at one of Europe’s elite clubs. Contest.
Mbappe privately informed PSG in February that he intended to leave when his contract expired at the end of this season.
The 25-year-old has never said as much publicly, let alone confirmed where he will go next, but it seems certain he will head to Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, Mbappe and his current club will be hoping to end the season on a high, with PSG still able to sweep away domestic honors.
They have secured the Ligue 1 title, their 10th in the past 12 seasons, and will collect the trophy after Sunday’s game against mid-table Toulouse in what will be their final home game of the season.
PSG also won the equivalent of the French Super Cup and will face Lyon in the Coupe de France final in Lille on May 25.
“Not everything can be thrown in the bin. We still have goals and the Coupe de France final is coming,” Mbappe told reporters after Dortmund’s defeat.
“We’re going to keep working hard. We’re going to try to win the final and then we’ll evaluate how the season goes, what’s good and what’s not so good.”
Mbappe failed to score in both legs against Dortmund, but he has scored 43 goals in all competitions this season, 26 of which have come in Ligue 1.
He still hopes to break his club record of 255 goals for PSG and win another medal in that cup final – Mbappe has won six of his seven games so far. A two-time Ligue 1 champion, three Coupe de France champions and two now-defunct League Cup winners spent many years with his hometown club.
After Sunday’s game, PSG will complete their league campaign with away games against Nice and relegation-threatened Metz, before Kylian Mbappe ends his career at the club in the cup final.
Player to watch: Thijs Dallinga
The Dutch poacher has impressed in his first season in French football, scoring 18 goals in all competitions for Toulouse this season.
Dalinga, 23, made his debut for the Netherlands in November and hopes to be included in the call-up list for Euro 2024. An outstanding performance against Paris Saint-Germain this weekend will not do his chances any harm and could help convince other clubs to make an offer to Toulouse during the summer.
key statistics
6 – Kylian Mbappe will be Ligue 1’s top scorer for the sixth consecutive year
6 – Monaco are on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League, ending a six-year absence from the competition
6 – Lorient suffer a sixth straight defeat and a seventh bounce-back this weekend could be enough to see them relegated
Fixtures (all kick-off times 1900 GMT)
Friday
Brest v Reims, Nice v Le Havre
Sunday
Clermont vs. Lyon, Marseille vs. Lorient, Montpellier vs. Monaco, Nantes vs. Lille, Paris Saint-Germain vs. Toulouse, Rennes vs. Lens, Strasbourg vs. Metz.