At least he fronted up to the media for a few minutes, which is more than he had done in the previous 90 on the pitch. Ballon d’Or? Kylian Mbappe is the balloon headed for the door, and what a deflating exit this was, beaten 2-0 over two legs by Borussia Dortmund, the fifth best team in Germany.
Big players – the best, the very best – they turn up on nights like this, and not just to whisper a few words to the press. Subdued just about captures his performance, too. For all the noise inside Parc des Princes, Mbappe was quiet, so quiet it screamed back at you.
He was gagged, in part, by Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck. But there was something about his own body language that seemed restrictive – there were early distress signals in the form of a pass straight to a yellow jersey – and he reserved his most expressive action for a roll of the eyes when asked by the press if he would be supporting Real Madrid on Wednesday evening, the club he will join this summer. With that, Mbappe left. It was as if he had never been there at all.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – not the diminished version of PSG – always showed. Through a human skill so superior or an animalistic force of nature, they carried their teams to victory. Between them, they won the Champions League nine times. Mbappe, at 25, remains on zero.
Maybe it will be that the move to Madrid brings a flurry of European crowns in the second half of his career. But what has the first half – seven seasons at PSG – amounted to? In actual numbers – six Ligue 1 titles plus three French Cup and two League Cup wins.
Kylian Mbappe cut a forlorn figure after PSG were dumped out of the Champions League
Mbappe was unable to inspire PSG past Borussia Dortmund as they lost 2-0 on aggregate
But to any observer beyond France, Mbappe only plays in the Champions League. What he achieves domestically feels like box ticking. The one box he had to populate on Tuesday was the penalty box. He put himself in there, at least in a literal sense. But the spirit, the will, the skill, the qualities which saw him score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, they were elsewhere. Madrid, perhaps?
The locals agreed this week that Mbappe’s legacy would be determined by PSG’s success or otherwise in this season’s Champions League. He did not, however, write a new chapter. Rather, this amounted to a full stop on a story long since told.
As an epitaph, L’Equipe’s match rating of two out of 10 was brutal, if not entirely unfair.
‘His last match with Paris in (the Champions League) looked like a nightmare,’ they wrote. ‘Installed on the left side, the attacker was, for a long time, infinitely technically fragile. Dominated in the duel by Hummels, he almost never went one-on-one.
‘He missed his shot from close range (36th minute) and narrowly missed the shot which hit the crossbar (86th minute). It was ultimately through his returning crosses that he was most dangerous. That’s so little for a Ballon d’Or contender…’
Mbappe’s right of reply came when, to our surprise, he appeared in the corridor next to the dressing-rooms to talk to the media. He ignored Mail Sport’s request for a few words in English.
Instead, in a hushed French, he bemoaned his team’s performance at both ends of the pitch. In truth, though, the failure to score a single goal over two legs was the reason PSG were beaten.
‘When we say that we had to do better offensively, I know that I’m involved,’ he said. ‘I’m disappointed but that’s how it is. When you’re not effective in both boxes, it’s complicated. In the Champions League you have to be effective in two areas, and on this point they were better than us, so there you go.’
The departing 25-year-old’s seven seasons at the club amounts to no European silverware
His closest chance of Champions League glory was in 2020 when Paris Saint-Germain lost to Bayern Munich in the final
Mbappe rolled his eyes when he was asked if he would support Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich
He proceeded to walk out of the interview, not honouring the question with even a word
Why did he want to talk?
‘When I score, I take the light and I come in front of you,’ he said. ‘When I’m not, I also take on the dark side. Not a problem.’
The question about Real Madrid provoked one of his quicker movements of the evening, and that was that. Will it be the last time he speaks as a PSG player? It matters not, really. Actions speak louder than words, and his last meaningful act was a meaningless slip as he went through on goal in the dying seconds.
By now, the pyros in the stands had fizzled away. With it, the light went out for good on Mbappe and PSG in the Champions League. It never did burn as brightly as they had hoped.