Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé is pumped up for Sunday’s meeting of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats leaders and his former club Monaco, whom he helped to the 2017 league title.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN – MONACO (kick-off at 19:45 GMT on Sunday)
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Mbappé scored twice in PSG’s 4-1 UEFA Champions League win over Brugge on Tuesday night to move onto 30 goals in that competition, the first six of them scored for Monaco in the 2016-2017 season when Leonardo Jardim’s side made the semi-finals of the Champions League as well as pipping PSG to the Ligue 1 trophy.
Mbappé told psg.fr: “It’s a huge league match and they’re a big club, who know how to perform in big matches. Of course, for me, it’s extra special. I played there for a long time and still have friends there. There is always that adrenalin that runs through your veins but when you play for Paris Saint-Germain, there is no time to be sentimental. You need to win and I will do all that I can to help my team to do so.”
PSG head into Round 18 guaranteed to pick up the symbolic title of ‘autumn champions’ as they’re 11 points clear of nearest challengers Rennes. Mauricio Pochettino will hope to see Mbappé and Lionel Messi maintain the understanding they showed against Brugge when both players netted doubles.
Mbappé: 'It's easy to play with Lionel Messi'
Mbappé allowed Messi to take and convert a penalty rather than claim the ball to aim for a Champions League hat-trick and post-match he told uefa.com: “It’s easy to play with Lionel Messi. He’s the best player in the world. He won the Ballon d’Or a few days ago. He scored two goals today and he is happy and I hope he will help us in the future.”
Messi has only one league goal to Mbappé’s seven and the Argentinian will be looking to add to his tally this weekend, boosted by a passionate Parc des Princes crowd. PSG haven’t lost at home this campaign, winning seven of their eight league matches and Mbappé feels the return of the crowd has given last season’s runners-up a real lift.
Mbappé said: “In certain matches that we lost at home last season, we know that it was also due to the fact that we didn’t necessarily feel at home. We were at the Parc des Princes but the stadium felt empty. I think that the supporters bring us a lot and we are lucky to have them with us.”
Monaco drew at Sturm Graz on Thursday evening to finish their UEFA Europa League group stage campaign unbeaten and top of their section with 12 points. Coach Niko Kovac rotated his squad for the game in Austria and was able to make a triple change at half-time, withdrawing key plyers Wissam Ben Yedder, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Caio Henrique.
Kovac, whose side are unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions, explained: “I named a competitive team and I made changes at half-time because on Sunday we play PSG. We’re heading to Paris who are a great team with great players. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Paris are favourites but we’re going there to try to spring a surprise.”
Probable Teams:
Paris Saint-Germain: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos (c), Diallo, Bernat; Wijnaldum, Verratti, Gueye; Messi, Mbappé, Di María
Monaco: Nübel; Águilar, Disasi, Maripán, Caio Henrique; Fofana, Tchouaméni; Martins, Golovin, Diop; Ben Yedder (c)
