Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique admitted he was not fully satisfied with Kylian Mbappé’s performance in Saturday’s 3-0 win away to Stade de Reims despite the France captain bagging a hat-trick.
“In terms of goals I have nothing to add. He is unique,” Luis Enrique told broadcaster Canal Plus after Mbappé’s triple strike at the Stade Auguste-Delaune secured the points that took PSG to the top of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats table.
“But I ask for more from Kylian Mbappé. Not in terms of goals. I ask for more from him in terms of supporting the rest of the team and participating with the team in more situations in the game. I think he is one of the best players in the world, without any doubt, but we still need to see a better Kylian and I think he can get better.”
When pressed in his subsequent press conference on where he thought Mbappé could improve, the Spaniard added: “It is better if I tell him first rather than telling the press. He is very ambitious. So is the team. I don’t want him to rest on his laurels.”
Mbappé opened the scoring with a superb volley from an Ousmane Dembélé cross in the third minute in Reims and doubled the lead from a Carlos Soler assist early in the second half. He then wrapped up the win eight minutes from time, sweeping in Bradley Barcola’s cutback to move onto 13 Ligue 1 goals for the campaign.
Praise for Donnarumma
Yet Luis Enrique admitted that the reigning champions struggled at times against an impressive Reims side who came into the game in fourth place in the table.
“It was a very difficult match,” he said. “The scoreline doesn’t reflect the game. It could have turned out differently. Reims had lots of chances and were in the match until the 80th minute. We had to suffer a lot to win the game.”
Indeed the visitors were grateful to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for making a string of outstanding saves as PSG climbed above OGC Nice to the top of the table. The Italian stood out as the Parisians bounced back from their 2-1 midweek loss away to his former club AC Milan.
“He is an impressive player and a marvellous goalkeeper,” said the coach. “I appreciate having him in my team having had to come up against him in the past. It is hard to score goals against him. It has been a difficult week for him emotionally after what happened for him in Milan, but he has kept performing and stayed focused, even in training.”
>> MATCH REPORT: Mbappé hat-trick as PSG down Reims
