Kylian Mbappé intends to leave Paris Saint-Germain in style.
Following his performance in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Barcelona a week earlier, where he scored twice to secure a semi-final against Borussia Dortmund, Mbappé continued his scoring streak on Wednesday night, adding two other goals to his tally in a 4–1 away win against Lorient.
Not only did this result put PSG on the brink of their 10th Ligue 1 title in 12 years, needing just one win from their remaining four matches, but they were also Mbappe’s 254th and 255th goals for the club. That’s more than anyone has ever scored for Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid or PSG’s biggest domestic rival Marseille.
Considering the legendary strikers who spent their best years at these clubs, Mbappé achieving this feat at the age of 25, having already played an important role in winning a French championship title with Monaco at 18 , is very impressive.
If competing for all the trophies and winning all the accolades before leaving his hometown Paris this summer, when most observers expect him to join Real Madrid, isn’t enough to convince you of the status of Mbappé as the best footballer in the world, perhaps the quality of his goal contributions will be.
His first goal against Lorient, PSG’s second of the evening, was excellent.
This Kylian Mbappe film 🤯
Did he mean it? 👀
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/G8ZAwM6yCD
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 24, 2024
After releasing left-back Nuno Mendes in the penalty area with a through ball, he rushed from outside the area towards the six-yard line before Mendes played a square ball slightly behind him.
Needing to adjust to get an effort on target, Mbappe changed his body shape, brought his left foot behind the ball in one quick movement and fired a shot towards the far corner.
Mbappe appeared to generate enough spin to head the ball into the net, although he appeared to be heading wide of the post when he made contact.
“‘Did he really mean it?’ – of course, he really meant it. An incredible finish,” said Clive Allen, a prolific striker for clubs like Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the 1980s, in commentary for TNT Sports, the UK’s main League One broadcaster.
If this was an “incredible” talent, few superlatives will do justice to what Mbappe produced in the 59th minute.
KYLIAN MBAPPE 👏👏
The PSG star creates a moment of magic to prepare Ousmane Dembele for his 2nd goal of the evening! pic.twitter.com/nQgtFs7UKt
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 24, 2024
Chasing a ball down PSG’s left wing, he appears to be heading towards a dead end.
Goncalo Ramos, who led the line for the visitors, is his closest teammate, but still around 20 yards away, and Mbappe is followed closely by a Lorient defender.
With little support, Mbappe takes a reverse step with his right foot, causing Lorient’s Nathaniel Adjei to momentarily lose his balance. This slight defensive adjustment – with Adjei likely trying to win the ball back early to avoid finding himself in a race with Mbappe, one of the fastest players in European football – gives the Frenchman a second to bring the ball back and deal with his marker near him. the signature (the horizontal line from the corner flag to the goal).
Given the threat Mbappé poses from almost any position in the final third, Adjei is understandably keen to make a tackle and extends his left leg towards the ball in an attempt to win it. According to former West Bromwich Albion and Sweden defender Jonas Olsson, this is where he made his first mistake.
“The defender is just a little too aggressive,” says Olsson Athleticism. “The most important thing is not to go for the ball too early. I can see why he’s putting his foot forward – Mbappe is so far away and thinks he’s got it, but he just needs to stay strong and hold on.
To all the Sunday League amateur level coaches who have ever shouted at a full back to head his man towards the corner flag, we hear you.
What happens next is why you should always approach any tricky attacker with extreme caution.
While Adjei stretched his leg, Mbappé took the ball away from the Lorient defender and brought it closer to him, opening up a meter of separation. After moving the ball back with his right foot, Mbappe hit it on his left foot, which hits the signature.
Adjei then extends his right leg to prevent Mbappe from attempting to kick the ball along the byline to get around him – leaving Adjei with free space between his legs.
Mbappé notices this gap and taps the ball with his left foot to his right before passing it through Adjei’s legs.
With Adjei off balance, Mbappe easily shrugs it off before touching inside the box and delivering a side-footed cross on the ground to the unmarked Ousmane Dembele, who taps in at the far post.
In the aftermath, commentators Allen and Jonathan Pearce described Mbappé’s magical moment as “brilliant”, “absolutely stunning”, “an absolute genius”, “absolutely magnificent”, “superb” and “out of this world”.
While any defender in the sport can fall victim to Mbappe’s genius, Adjei won’t want to reverse his decision to stretch his leg, especially as he was in a good position to keep the PSG striker away from the aim.
“As a defender, you always have to evaluate where you are on the pitch,” Olsson says. “When I played against Cristiano Ronaldo and he was running straight at you in the middle of the field near the goal, you had to engage. It might even risk bringing him down. The same is true with a player like Eden Hazard. But here, he is close to signing.
“I always say, ‘Treat the signing like an extra defender.’ He (Adjei) has a favorable position, and Mbappé wants the defender to dive. When he brings the ball back with his sole, it is his way of asking the defender to commit. Roy Hodgson (former manager of England, Liverpool, Inter Milan and West Brom) used to say: “Sometimes you have to leave the ball to the striker as a defender, because the most important is to protect your goal.”
Mbappe capped his superb night with a second goal in second-half stoppage time, coolly placing a shot into the bottom right corner from the edge of the area.
With less than a month to go until the end of the season, he will ensure that his breakthrough moment in a PSG jersey is still to come.
To Adjei, we offer our condolences. But you are not Mbappé’s first victim, and you will certainly not be the last.