by Kylian Mbappé is leaving Paris Saint-German, but he could say goodbye yet, and he is not going to quit. One last thing remains to be done, and it obsesses all of them.
Two superb goals, a portrait of a player who stands above the rest, beat Real Sociedad and carried PSG into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and perhaps a small step closer to the European Cup : 2-0 winners in an early end to the first leg, with any hope of a Real Sociedad comeback, a display from the man who was about to say safewhile leading the team he still has, until May, a 2-1 win in Spain.
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The history of football is full of comebacks reminded by Imanol Alguacil, and Luis Enrique warned his players that the wrong attitude could see his side “miserable”, insisting: “with one goal, Real Sociedad will be in trouble us”. That was a big question, however, they knew: if the performance in Paris had taken effect, la Real still had the victory, especially because of a familiar failure. There was talk of an early goal but they came in after failing to score in five of their last eight games and winning just one of nine.
I don’t mind the time, Imanol insisted that he didn’t care if the first one came in the 10th minute or the sixtieth; rather, he argued, it was more about obedience. That only took fifteen minutes and was another demonstration of Mbappé’s gentle brutality, that unanswerable excellence.
Released by Ousmane Dembélé, he rose up the left and into the area. Igor Zubeldia faced him with his hands behind his back because this wasn’t hard enough anyway. Mbappé tapped the break, the accelerator, the brake and the accelerator again, only a short distance each time but enough to put his mark out of the way, and the balance gone. And then, bam, the ball flew past Álex Remiro and into the far corner, hard enough to clear the net.
In fact, for a moment and the referee Michael Oliver stopped, this place was wondering if they were going to give up; perhaps it could be ruled out, but on what grounds? Being too good maybe.
Instead, three men in bibs arrived to repair the damage and Mbappé continued to ignore him. He had already walked past everyone and all the way to the byline, deep inside the area, where he pulled back for Bradley Barcola, who should have scored from a few yards but was denied by Remiro. Now he bent all the way towards the far post to get a first-time shot that Remiro kept out with his boot.
PSG were in complete control of this and Real Sociedad knew they had to go forward, they were also aware of the danger with Mbappé loitering with intent down the left. They were unable to fire a shot of any real consequence until Take Kubo’s effort flew over the bar just on half-time.
PSG had taken six by then; half of them came from Mbappé. He took three, set up the fourth and the fifth was sort of, at least indirectly: la Real watched Warren Zaïre-Emery turn and run through midfield, the defense retreating and allowing him to approach himself , seems to consider that better than allowing him a way to play the ball to Mbappé. If so, they were right: Zaïre-Emery found the edge of the area and took the shot.
Mbappé added to those figures early on, Real Sociedad pulled in early in the second half and Lee Kang-in released him again. This was about as many goals as Mbappé gets. Put him in front of the goal, as they had, and there is never the slightest hint of nerves; in its place is a sense of ease, the feeling that you have seen it before and that there is only one possible outcome other than the ball ending up in the net.
And so it was: running into the area, Mbappé opened his body, laying himself up to curl it into the far corner and, with a flick of the eye and ankle, side-footed it over Remiro at the post next to him instead. .
Momentarily, Ander Barrenetxea gave this place something to cheer about, heading in at the far post but the linesman’s flag was up – and even that was a reminder of Mbappe’s mastery. There is talent, but there is also time. How often he runs free, how rarely he misjudges the moment he plays.
A true rebel, determined to fulfill their manager’s promise to make their fans proud, no matter what the outcome. A neat move left to right by Martin Zubimendi to cut a good chance over the bar, falling to the turf as the ball spun upwards, and then an equally neat move to the left saw Barrenetxea Beñat Turrientes on the edge of the six. box in the yard, only to be denied by a brilliant save from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Jon Olasagasti then clipped a shot into the roof of the net before, in the 89th minute, Mikel Merino gave them the goal they deserved, singing all the way to the end, despite being beaten by the best man.
