Coach Luis Enrique admitted his helplessness in convincing Kylian Mbappe to leave the match against sixth-place team Revel.
“Why not give Kylian Mbappe a rest? He wants to play and then the rest of us don’t have much to say. You can just watch him play and enjoy it,” Enrique replied. answer when asked about letting Mbappe play for more than 90 minutes in the 9-0 win over sixth-place team Revel, in the 1/32 round of the French Cup on January 7.
Enrique also believes that Mbappe is the type of player who has more voice than the coach. And when such players compete, he asserted that all sectors benefit, including the team, the public and the opponents.
In the 9-0 win over Revel, Mbappe scored three goals. The 25-year-old striker increased his record from the beginning of the season to 25 goals after 24 matches, the total number of goals for PSG to 237 goals after 284 matches and his record from the beginning of his club career to 268 goals after 356 matches.
Normally, when facing much weaker opponents, top-ranked teams often use a reserve squad. On January 6, in the victory over fourth-ranked team Arandina in the round of 16 of the King’s Cup, Real Madrid sat out the entire main squad in La Liga. However, when meeting Revel, Enrique still used many stars like Mbappe, Kolo Muani, Goncalo Ramos, or Marco Asensio.
Enrique begins leading PSG from the beginning of the 2023-2024 season. PSG is leading Ligue 1 with a gap of five points, entering the round of 1/16 of the French Cup, round of 1/8 of the Champions League and winning the French Super Cup. However, the performance in the Champions League is not really convincing. PSG finished Group F in second place, with eight points after six matches. Enrique’s team only advanced thanks to a lower score than third-placed team Milan.
Before coming to PSG, Enrique won one Champions League, one treble and two La Liga titles with Barca. With Spain, he reached the semi-finals of Euro 2021 and the final of Nations League 2021. Enrique bid farewell to Spain after losing 0-3 to Morocco in the 2022 World Cup round of 1/8 penalty shootout.