♦ Kylian Mbappe’s PSG contract is set to expire at the end of the 2023-24 season
♦ He admitted his ‘dream was to win the Champions league with the Parisians’
Kylian Mbappe has insisted Paris Saint-Germain’s sensational Champions League comeback victory against Barcelona on Tuesday ‘can not change his decision to leave the club’.
The France World Cup winner is chasing an elusive European title with the Ligue 1 outfit, but announced last year that he will leave the club, ending a long-standing contract stand-off between him and the French champions.
The 25-year-old, who scored twice in the second half of Tuesday’s match to help PSG seal a 6-4 aggregate victory and advance to the Champions League semi-finals, told PSG in February that he will be departing the club when his contract expires this summer.
It is looking increasingly likely that he will join Real Madrid, with the Spanish giants having nearly landed their man in 2022, with Mbappe performing a late U-turn before signing a new deal with the Ligue 1 outfit. He is now set to reveal the next stage of his career before Euro 2024.
The PSG forward, who was seen celebrating wildly after securing his side a berth in the semi-finals, was reportedly asked by journalists in a press conference: ‘Can your decision [to leave] change?’
Kylian Mbappe claimed he would not reconsider leaving PSG after his sides’ win vs Barcelona
During an interview Mbappe said ‘No’ when asked if his decision to leave PSG could change
It came just as Mbappe was about to leave the media room, with the France captain turning to the reporter, saying ‘No, no, no’ according to El Chiringuito, as he walked away.
Mbappe, who joined Paris from Monaco in 2017, initially on loan, has won five league titles with his hometown club while scoring 253 goals across 302 appearances in all competitions.
Over the past few years he has been at loggerheads with PSG over a new deal, with the club wanting him to extend his deal past 2025.
That has caused tensions to develop between both the club and player, with the stand-off intensfying after the PSG prevented Mbappe from attending their tour of Japan in 2023 as well as banishing him to train with the B team after refusing to sign an extension.
PSG had also accused him of inflicting a ‘lasting paralysis on the club’ and stated that he should have treated his team better ‘after their years of unprecedented goodwill and commitment to him.’
Despite all that, Mbappe admitted to reporters that he wants to win the iconic Champions League trophy that has eluded him for so many years at PSG.
‘I have the dream of winning the Champions League for Paris,’ Mbappe told reporters at the barcelona Olympic Stadium on Tuesday.
‘I’m proud to be at PSG since the first day. It’s not because there are good times and bad times that my pride takes a hit.
‘The pride of playing for this club, of representing the club of the capital of my country, it’s something special for me who grew up there.
Mbappe scored twice late on to help PSG claim a 6-4 aggregate victory against Barcelona
Mbappe will leave the club at the end of the 2023-24 season when his contract expires
He added that it was his ‘dream’ to win the Champions League with the Ligue 1 champions
‘To experience an evening like this one as a Parisian, it’s great. We have one more step to go before we reach the final in Wembley, so we need to stay calm.’
Paris will now go on to play Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals after they too bounced back to beat Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, following a defeat in the first leg of their quarter final tie.
‘We beat a great team this evening, but even if we had lost, I would be proud to be Parisian. Now it’s certain that during evenings like this, the pride is even greater,’ Mbappé added during the press conference.
‘We are very happy, we beat a team that we wanted to beat and to be closer to the final. This one is for the fans that came here to support us and those back home. It’s a night to be proud.’