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Mbappe at PSG to stay after flattening Monaco in title party
PARIS, April 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Kylian Mbappe committed his future to
newly-crowned Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday after sweeping
aside Monaco with a hat-trick in a 3-1 win that also saw the return of
superstar strike partner Neymar.
“I’m here, I’ve signed up to the project,” said Mbappe, who has been
linked with Real Madrid, to TV station Canal+.
“Good for Real Madrid if there is Zizou (Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane),
I will watch their matches as an admirer.”
Mbappe took his league tally for the season to 30 following his treble on
Sunday, which came just hours after PSG were crowned champions for the sixth
time in seven years when closest challengers Lille dropped points.
Their goalless draw at Toulouse left them 16 points behind PSG with only
five games to play before kick-off in Paris and allowed the capital club to
celebrate the title after missing chances to seal it in their previous three
matches.
“I’m happy, the season isn’t finished yet, and I want to score more,” said
Mbappe to Canal+.
The 20-year-old is targeting the domestic double ahead of next week’s
French Cup final against Rennes after his side crashed out in the last 16 in
the Champions League.
“We’re disappointed for what happened with Manchester United, but the game
goes on,” added Mbappe, referring to his team throwing away a 2-0 first-leg
lead to the Premier League outfit.
“We obviously expected more from the Champions League but we can’t let
ourselves be demoralised.”
Neymar’s return at the start of the second half replacing Layvin Kurzawa
is the cherry on the cake for Thomas Tuchel’s side, who had been without the
Brazilian superstar since January 23 with a right foot injury.
Edinson Cavani also returned to action for injury-ravaged PSG as a second
half substitute, having a late strike correctly ruled out for offside,
meaning that their famed front three are back together after months apart.
– Thriving Mbappe –
Mbappe has thrived in the absence of his strike partners, and gave his
side a 2-0 first-half lead with two neat finishes, the first coming in the
15th minute and the second seven minutes before the break after a beautiful
pass from Dani Alves. The World Cup winner then put the three points beyond
doubt when he tapped in Alves’ low cross nine minutes after the break.
Aleksandr Golovin rolled home a consolation for the away side, who remain
in trouble in 16th place and are only four points away from the relegation
play-off spot.
“We’ve not been in the best of form but we played well today. We won
again, and that’s important,” said Tuchel.
“The Champions League is a huge goal, but a club like Juventus has been
waiting more than 20 years to win that trophy, and that’s Juventus.”
The Parisians have struggled with key injuries in recent weeks and they
lost Italian international midfielder Marco Verratti with what looks like a
knock to his left ankle.
PSG took the field wearing a shirt with a large image of Notre Dame
replacing the usual sponsor’s logo. “Notre-Dame” replaced the player names on
the back of the shirts.
The iconic Paris cathedral was damaged in a spectacular blaze last Monday.
The club said that they would put a limited edition of the shirts on sale
on line during the match for 100 euros each. The club said the money “will be
donated to associations related to firefighters”.
The club also posted a “Hommage to Notre Dame” video on their web site in
which players praised the team-work of the Paris fire brigade and made a
gesture that imitates the two famous towers that form part of the cathedral’s
facade.
The club said it was also using Sunday’s game to thank the firefighters.
BSS/AFP/FI/0844 hrs