Bruges (Belgium) (AFP)
"Everybody has to bring his stone to the building, so it's a rock he brings us": from his team-mate Abdou Diallo to his opponents, Kylian Mbappé impressed the football world again after his entry crashing in the Champions League against Brugge (5-0) on Tuesday.
On October 23, 2013, Zlatan Ibrahimovic brightened the Anderlecht stadium by a resounding four-fold in PSG's biggest win against a Belgian club in the C1 (5-0), even offering a rare ovation from the opposition.
Six years later, Kylian Mbappé and his teammates managed to do almost as well in Bruges: a "hat trick" made just thirty minutes after its entry into play, to give even more brilliance to the score in Paris.
It was 11 years since a substitute kickoff had not achieved such a feat in the Champions League!
"Phenomenon", "legendary", "Her Majesty": the whole of the European sports press was dithyrambic the day after this feat. "He's the best striker in Europe or the world, at least for his age", even complimented Bruges coach Philippe Clement.
With this resounding performance, one more in his career start as prolific as supersonic, the French prodigy (20 years) has again pushed the records of precocity by raising to 17 his number of goals in the European queen competition.
For comparison, the fivefold Golden Ball Lionel Messi had waited 21 years and 288 days to reach this total ... Bluffing.
- "Bad luck" -
"It's true that I wanted to start, I thought I was going to start, the coach chose, we have to accept, I wanted to show that it's hard to do without me, I want to fight to keep my place and help the team, "he told the microphone of RMC Sport after the meeting.
But the best Parisian scorer of last season (33 goals) was he really in danger? "It's not possible that he thinks I want to play without him," said Thomas Tuchel, "that was our decision but that's not why he has to show that he has quality, I I'm not stupid (laughs). "
Sentenced to forced rest during the last international truce due to persistent muscular discomfort, the world champion missed the first two days of the Champions League.
His winning return to Nice (4-1) last Friday in Ligue 1 - a goal scored after coming into play - gave a clue to his gargantuan willingness to make up for lost time.
"Football is a passion, it's been two months since I could not play, it was very painful, I want to play every game, get the pace and put goals," he told RMC Sport: Before I did not feel like playing, I had to wait patiently. "
- Best team of the QSI era? -
Seeing Angel Di Maria and Mauro Icardi shine in his absence against Real Madrid (3-0), during the inaugural match last September, has only increased his impatience. Witness his training sessions at 2000 per hour to find the land as quickly as possible.
"If you saw him after Nice ... I was happy not to train elsewhere, I was scrubbing, he was monstrous!" Said his team-mate Abdou Diallo. He was going straight ahead and he was marking, marking, marking ... It's Kylian what! "
With 9 points in three games, the Paris club has made perfect debuts on the continental stage, while recovering its weapon of mass destruction. And to say that Neymar and Edinson Cavani, the other two members of the trio "MCN", are still not on the track ...
"For me, for the last eight years that I have been here, it's the best team I've played in," said captain Thiago Silva, a privileged witness to the evolution of the PSG Qatari version, "we can not stop. The season is still long. "
While waiting to officially validate their ticket for the eighth, on November 6 at the Parc des Princes against Bruges, Thomas Tuchel's men have a prestigious match to play against Marseille on Sunday (21:00 / 19:00 GMT). With Mbappé holder?
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