Kylian Mbappe admitted that Paris Saint-Germain had performed to their “maximum” despite slumping to another early Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. PSG, trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Paris, were beaten 2-0 in the return game at the Allianz Arena to drop out of the competition in the last 16 for the fifth time in seven seasons.
Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe (centre) reacts after the Champions League round of 16 second leg match against Bayern Munich in Munich on Wednesday night. (AFP)
Kylian Mbappe admitted that Paris Saint-Germain had performed to their “maximum” despite slumping to another early Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. PSG, trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Paris, were beaten 2-0 in the return game at the Allianz Arena to drop out of the competition in the last 16 for the fifth time in seven seasons.
“As I said at my first Champions League press conference this season, we were going to do our maximum. That’s our maximum, that’s the truth,” Mbappe told reporters. “What were PSG missing? Not much when you look at the two squads. They have a great squad, built to win the Champions League.”
PSG are still waiting for a maiden European Cup title despite the vast amount spent in the transfer market by their Qatari owners. Christophe Galtier’s men ended the tie with two 17-year-olds on the pitch in El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Warren Zaire-Emery.
“We’re going to question ourselves and then return to our daily life, the league,” added Mbappe.
“We have to move on… We lost against a great team, trying to win the tournament.”
Mbappe, who wore the captain’s armband after Marquinhos went off injured in the 36th minute, signed a bumper new deal with PSG last year. Despite the team sitting eight points clear at the top of Ligue 1, the Champions League failure will inevitably bring more questions about whether the France star will stay at the Parc des Princes. “I’m calm,” he said when asked about his future.
“The only thing that matters to me is this season, to win the league, and then we’ll see.”
PSG coach Christophe Galtier admitted the French side had no option but to accept their latest early Champions League exit and move on, although insisted the outcome of the last-16 tie against Bayern would have been different had the visitors scored first in Wednesday’s second leg.“It is a big disappointment. Unfortunately we have to digest it and accept it,” Galtier said.
The Ligue 1 leaders, who were looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg last month, have now gone out of the Champions League in the first knockout round in five of the last seven seasons. “We have to carry on in the league. Everyone is disappointed, not least me. Even if we had lots of difficulties in the first leg we placed a lot of hope in the second leg,” Galtier added.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry scored second-half goals at the Allianz Arena for Bayern, who were worthy winners against a flat PSG side. Neither Mbappe nor Lionel Messi had the expected impact on the game for the visitors while Neymar was missing with an ankle injury.Galtier was left to rue a first-half miss by Vitinha when the game was goalless, as his shot was cleared off the line by Matthijs de Ligt. The PSG coach also bemoaned his team’s defending at Bayern’s opener, which came after Marco Verratti was dispossessed in his own box.
“We had a really good spell when we created chances. We were competing with our opponents and were on top. Unfortunately we couldn’t take the chances we had,” he said.
“Then in the second half we conceded a really stupid goal. At this level you need to be a bit more clear-headed. Obviously we were under pressure from Bayern. At that point you need to not be ashamed to play long, to break out of the press. And obviously after an hour when you go behind it becomes very difficult. I don’t know if it is a lesson we need to learn but it is frustrating and disappointing. The game would definitely have been different had we scored first.”
Source: gulf-times.com
