Once again, Kylian Mbappé donned the costume of PSG’s savior by scoring the winning goal for Paris in the 90th minute this Saturday evening on the lawn of Brest. But if on the side of PSG we are necessarily satisfied with the saving goal of its captain, on the side of Brest, it is another action of the 2018 world champion which caught the attention. An action that took place just a few minutes before the 19th goal of the season from the Parisian number 7.
We then play the 85th minute, the two teams are tied, the tension palpable on the lawn and Kylian Mbappé is in a duel with the Algerian Haris Belkebla who has just recovered the ball. Annoyed to have lost it, the French striker then finds himself author of a bad gesture of antiplay by kicking his opponent’s leg. It falls to the ground and holds Mbappé by the leg. But the Parisian, frustrated by the course of this action and the reaction of the Brestois, comes to give a small kick in the chest of Belkebla. Then follows a small scuffle at the end of which the two players are given a yellow card.
An insufficient warning in the eyes of the Brestois who believe that the captain of PSG would have deserved a red card and therefore not to finish the meeting. “I saw the live images (smile) and I saw a kick, confides Pierre Lees-Melou. We’re not going to hide behind that and we didn’t lose because of that. But I would like to know if all the players did that, they would all have the same penalty. That’s all. Afterwards, I’m not going to start a controversy because we’re still going to say that we’re crying over the refereeing. »
A feeling of frustration shared by his teammate Hugo Magnetti, who believes that another player than Mbappé would surely have been sent off in such a situation: “Clearly Mbappé should no longer be there in the 90th minute, confides the Brest midfielder. And he is the one who scores at the end… We are not here to cry and say that we are the smallest and that they are not penalized. Clearly I saw a little kick from Mbappé. If it’s another player, there might be something else. »
For his part, Haris Belkebla, actor of this action, was more measured than his two partners and did not prefer to dwell on this contentious action. “I am not a referee. He kicks me badly. Then I grab his leg. He gives me a second shot and I get a little angry. From there to say if he deserves to go out, it’s not for me to judge, explains the Algerian. In the other direction, I do not know if I will still have been on the ground. But we can’t stop there. The most important thing was not to take this goal at the last minute. »
Asked about the subject, Christophe Galtier kicked into touch, and recognized that the referee had made the right choice by issuing a yellow card to the two players.
Note that Mbappé had been the victim in the 50th minute of a violent elbow from Dari in the throat, not sanctioned.
