Mbappé sees day by day how PSG does not finish giving himself to him as the leader of the project, despite the fact that his performances this season They clearly indicate him as the same: he has 22 goals this season, for only 7 of Messi, the highest paid player in the squad. His performance against Real Madrid, including a great goal, was a good example. But after the duel, to defend Messi, who missed a penalty against the whites, Pochettino used: “Messi is the best in the world. He is football.”
And it is that in fact, the ignoring of Mbappé has also become clear in the order of priority that PSG has established when it comes to taking penalties. The striker caused the last two maximum penalties for PSG, one against Real Madrid in the Champions League and another against Nantes in Ligue 1, but neither of them scored: the first went to Messi, the second to Neymar. And, coincidences of life, neither of them was a goal…
Messi, Neymar… and Mbappé
With the arrival of Messi at PSG, it was clear that the dispute over taking penalties was going to tighten and that, in principle, the Argentine was going to receive first place on the list, ahead of an Mbappé who has been in Paris since 2017 . Although there is a certain distribution of responsibilities: Kylian has taken four out of ten penalties this season (not counting a shootout against Nice, in which he shot the second, after Messi). The Parisian scored three of the four, 75% effective; better than Messi, who has scored two out of three, 66%; and much better than Neymar, who failed one of two, 50%. From eleven meters, Mbappé doesn’t feel like a leader either…
And Real Madrid wants to take advantage of that, which does offer Mbappé a project in which everything would revolve around him, with an attacking companion on his level like Benzema, who is also his team-mate in the national team and a good friend of his. In 2019, Mbappé already sent a message to PSG: “It’s time to take more responsibility; maybe here, at PSG, maybe in another new project…”. But the decisions that the club has been taking (renew Neymar, sign Messi…) have not gone in the direction that Mbappé wanted.