Two days before PSG’s Champions League semi-final return against Dortmund, Kylian Mbappé spoke. Despite losing 1-0 in the first leg, the Parisian star promises the PSG fans they will qualify for the final.
Like in the quarter-final against Barcelona, PSG heads into its Champions League semi-final return against Dortmund on Tuesday trailing by one goal. They must tap into their dormant resources to try to reach the final for the second time in their history, four years after losing to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.
It was in a store on the Champs-Élysées, as part of the “Victory Mode” event co-organized by Nike and its “Inspired By KM” foundation, that Kylian Mbappé spoke this Sunday.
“We had this project for a year to organize a sporting challenge in Paris,” explains the PSG striker about this moment shared with many children in Paris.
“They looked happy and fulfilled. What’s happening with them is what matters most to me today,” smiles Kylian Mbappé two days before the semi-final return against Dortmund.
Despite the stakes of the meeting, a place in the Champions League final, the native of Bondy was keen to be present at this event. “I have always said that this foundation was important to me. There is no better answer as to my involvement in coming here with the children before such an important match. I think it’s a message for them too, to tell them that no matter what happens on Tuesday, I’m here today. What’s going to happen on Tuesday, you’ll have to be there on Tuesday. Today is Sunday.
“The children are right, we must win”
When asked if Tuesday’s match will “go well”, Kylian Mbappé responds in the positive. “I think, I think. I’m already in preparation. There is the player and the man. The man needs to prepare and it helps the player prepare to attend an event like that. I often got the same warning from children. I’ve heard a lot of you have to win! And they are right, we must win! In any case, a day like this serves the development of the man that I am. And it’s certain that I will arrive at the match in a good mood, ready to defend the colors of my team and qualify us for the final.
Kylian Mbappé admitted to having a lot of pressure on his shoulders ahead of the return match against Dortmund.
“It’s normal because it’s a road to the Champions League final, which is not negligible. Even when we know the club’s history in the competition. We are aware of the pressure but the team is extremely calm. We are confident and we are sure that we will recover the goal and that we will qualify for the final.
“Olympic Games? I don’t think about it much.”
Asked about the two other major events awaiting him, the Euro in Germany (June 14 – July 14) and the Paris Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11), the Parisian striker recalled his current priority.
“On the Olympic Games, my position has not changed,” recalls Mbappé, who had already said he wanted to participate in the Games with the French Olympic team this summer.
“As I speak to you, I don’t think much about the Olympics,” confesses the Parisian, even though the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron assured that the player’s father told him that Kylian Mbappé “want” to participate in the Games.
Mbappé knows the pressure as the co-top scorer in the Champions League (8 goals like Harry Kane).
