Paris Saint-Germain has annoyed Kylian Mbappé by making him the focus of a promotional video that excluded Lionel Messi, Neymar and other teammates. “I’m not in agreement with this published video,” Mbappé wrote on Thursday in a statement published on his Instagram account. “PSG is a great club and a big family but it’s definitely not Kylian Saint-Germain.”
Mbappé is the only person who speaks in the video the club sent this week to fans seeking to persuade them to buy season tickets. Teammates like goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma are seen in some match action footage. The 24-year-old Mbappé talks about how important fans are for his hometown club.
L'indice est clair : Kylian Mbappe est le centre du projet PSG ___ pic.twitter.com/9DYe9cpkBC
— Le Meilleur du PSG (@LMDPSG) April 6, 2023
It was sent days after Messi was booed by some sections of the crowd at Parc des Princes ahead of a 1-0 loss for the league leaders against Lyon on Sunday. Mbappé wrote he was not told how the interview conducted inside the stadium would be used.
“It looked like a basic interview during a club marketing day,” said the France captain, who reminded why he has campaigned with the national team for protecting players’ image rights.
PSG still leads the French league by six points but was eliminated from the Champions League, losing home and away to Bayern Munich.
Christophe Galtier under pressure to save PSG job
When Christophe Galtier left Nice to coach Paris Saint-Germain, he had hopes of leading the club to its first Champions League title. Now he heads back to Nice for Saturday's league game fighting to save his job after PSG's terrible run of form. Last weekend’s loss to Lyon was PSG's second straight home defeat in the league and eighth across all competitions this year.
“That’s far too many. Match after match we’re using up our trump cards,” Galtier said. “Everyone, myself included, needs to be fully aware of the situation and the work that needs to be done.”
The Lyon loss has given second-place Lens and third-place Marseille — both six points behind PSG — a glimmer of hope with nine rounds left. Galtier was bitterly disappointed with how his players appeared to give up against a modest Lyon side and issued a wake-up call.
“We gave up quickly. We lacked character and personality. There’s disappointment but also anger,” he said. “We need to conduct ourselves differently. We need to respond like champions, we need to react with pride.”
