How Mbappé (almost) became a better passer than a scorer

Kylian Mbappé has been the best assists in the Champions League since 2017. -

• Kylian Mbappé has not scored in the Champions League for seven games, it is the worst black series of his career.

• If he no longer crashes on the European scene, the Parisian is on the other hand the best passer in the competition since 2017 (with 17 dice passes).

• So, simple adaptation while waiting to find his modjo in the face of goals or real evolution of his palette?

  This is the question we asked ourselves before the reception of Leipzig at the Parc des Princes.

Seven games without scoring in the same competition.

We did not curdle the milk to go back the entire career of Kylian Mbappé from the crèche des petits lutins in Bondy, but among the pros, this is a first.

Even in the France team, where he experienced periods of drought at first, the series ended no later than the seventh day, because the Parisian striker does not respect the Sundays of the Lord.

The youngest player to have planted 17 goals in the Champions League, Mbappé has stalled a bit for a year, and the Norwegian longship Borussia Dortmund could send his record from the bottom before the end of the year.

But if there's one stat that Halaland won't even come close to in a dream, it's assists.

Before facing Leipzig for a game that is so crucial for the future of PSG this season, Mbappé in C1, it is 15 offerings since 2017. Nobody does better.

"I think I have to evolve"

To give you an idea of ​​the site, the best passer in the history of the competition, which are our two usual Martians Messi and Ronaldo, peak around 35/40.

We can therefore estimate that at this rate, Mbappé will take less time to become the best passer ever in the C1 than his top scorer (if he ever gets there), which says a lot about the natural evolution of the French, much less individualistic than what we sometimes want to say.

It is the player himself, moreover, who insisted on putting the question on the table during an interview published at the end of October on the official website of PSG.

“I think I have to evolve and I realize it every day, admits Mbappé.

(…) You have to play with others.

You do not win alone and that is the most important in a team sport.

It's not yet perfect because I'm a striker and a striker, basically, he is taught to be selfish to be in his bubble.

It's a very special position, and I know it's hard to understand the state of mind of a striker.

But I do work on myself, I know that to win a match you have to work together, and knowing how to make others shine too, it's as important as shining yourself.

It really is something that I am learning.

"

Mbappé passer, an adaptation more than an evolution

Out of curiosity, we went to excavate the site of archaeologists in Parisian history to locate the young European champion: 51 assists listed since the summer of 2017, this already makes him an emeritus member of the top 10 all time, between Verratti (47) and Rothen (52).

Rothen, exactly.

We wanted to ask the opinion of the one who will soon no longer have Mbappé in his retro, to find out if, as a specialist in passing on a plateau, he also notes a notorious evolution in the Frenchman's way of playing.

“For me it is mainly due to its positioning than to a real awareness.

In very high level matches, we see him dropping out a lot, starting from very far, making big individual differences in terms of percussion, and when you're in that role - a bit like this what does Neymar do - you have more opportunity to give goal balls than to finish.

For me, it's not an evolution, it's more an adaptation.

The former Parisian number 25 wants the match in Monaco on Friday as proof.

"If you play him on Tuesday like he played this weekend on the first half [leading in Tuchel's 4-4-2 alongside Moise Kean], you see he makes a lot of calls in the depth, and he scored.

There, of course, you will no longer see him finisher.

"

"Ferryman he already was"

This is more or less what Jean-Claude Lafargue, his former trainer at INF Clairefontaine, tells us, for whom Mbappé “does not suddenly discover his talents as a smuggler”.

“If you play for Barça, you are not going to take the position of Messi, you are going to have to adapt.

The same for those who play with Ronaldo, the case of Benzema is very telling in this respect.

Benzema, today, he is as much a passer as a goalscorer, and he improved enormously in the last pass, in the game for the others.

Mbappé is the same, it's not so much that he has evolved, it's that he has adapted to the situation of PSG.

These players are able to analyze and say to themselves "here is the position where I am going to be the most effective, it is there" ".

Pro to the tips of his nails, Jean-Claude Lafargue takes the time to take his old notebook out of the boxes to support his point.

"I wrote that about him one day, when he was little, at the INF:" Kylian has a very interesting potential in the offensive passer / scorer diversity. "

There you go, ferryman he already was.

He was a goalscorer too, of course, but he was already scoring a lot of goals for his teammates.

Except that over time, depending on the positions he plays, and also the players he plays with, he still experiences a whole lot of things.

We tend to forget him, but he's still young and I think he's still in a testing period.

"

Mbappé must find his way

Mbappé would therefore be at a crossroads, to gauge what is most relevant for the rest of his career.

But will he go so far as to reconsider himself and accept the idea, at least while he is at PSG, that it is on the side that he is most useful for the team, with potentially more die passes than pawns?

Basically, will he choose the path of Messi or that of Ronaldo, who over the last few years has become more of a pure scorer, even if it means abandoning the little friends?

“The goal at a given moment is to be efficient, the great players are only judged on that, and to be so you have to find the register in which you are the most efficient.

But he will be in both, scorer and passer, ”predicts Lafargue.

Jérôme Rothen obviously does not have the same crystal ball at home.

For me, the real ferryman in quotes, he has that in him, he analyzes.

And you see, Kylian is not the style to do a one-pass check.

It's more of a control, I'm going to hit, I'm going to dribble, and then he goes so fast in the sequences that he has the choice to give or to finish.

He can do anything but I remain convinced that his strong point is to score goals and not to give them.

"

"It is true that we expect it despite everything at the finish", agrees another former Parisian, José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan.

“He wants to evolve at the center forward position, so we expect him there.

He must manage to transcribe his killer side in Ligue 1 in the Champions League, warns the current consultant for Canal +.

Concentration, dealing with emotions and pressure are areas where he still has to work.

He knows the pressure eh, he is world champion, etc, but he is surely aware that he still has a small deficit in the Champions League.

Assists are great, but it's a minimum.

"

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