Friday afternoon, the Parc des Princes welcomed those who will host the evening celebrating the twelfth French champion title for a dress rehearsal. Throughout the day and until midnight, technicians, musicians and members of the LFP or PSG were on deck to finalize the final preparations, between festivities, fireworks, stands and protocol for handing over the prize. ‘Hexagoal at the end of the L1 match against Toulouse this Sunday. The second trophy of the season is also the 50th in the club’s history. And the leaders want to mark the occasion.
In addition to the performance of Luis Enrique’s men and the glitter that will litter the pitch during the post-match, all eyes will obviously be on Kylian Mbappé who will play his last match at the Parc des Princes.
Friday evening at 7:56 p.m., the attacker announced the news in a video posted on his social networks. At the club, this announcement took everyone by surprise. This formalization could have reshuffled the cards and pushed Paris to hastily organize a tribute to the legendary number seven.
Before the 2018 world champion spoke, reflection was carried out internally on the idea of paying tribute to the top scorer in the club’s history but ultimately no ceremony had been scheduled. Proof that the subject is flammable, Luis Enrique, questioned at a press conference this Friday, kicked in, affirming that this question was not for him but for his leaders…
The Ultras have prepared a tribute
According to our information, Saturday did not allow the situation to change. Internally, we emphasized that the timing was too short to imagine special treatment for the captain of the Blues in the middle of the celebration of the French champion title.
Behind this absence of a final wink, it is impossible not to see the consequence of the extremely tense relations between Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and the Mbappé clan. They also experienced a public epilogue on Friday evening, when the Frenchman excluded the Qatari from the list of his thanks. A voluntary omission which really did not go unnoticed.
Despite these frosty relations between the player and his president, we cannot rule out organizing a small ceremony at a better time, before the final of the Coupe de France in Lille, on May 25. The reflection is ongoing, with no guarantee of results… Sunday evening at the Parc des Princes, it will be the members of the CUP who will celebrate the captain of the French team one last time. After giving him a warm welcome on Friday evening near the Porte de Saint-Cloud for a barbecue and a few exchanges with the supporters, the star will be entitled to a tifo.
If the initiative of the ultras was able to divide and make people talk given the sometimes shady relations which may have existed between the two camps, the leaders of the Auteuil turn found it incongruous to let Kylian Mbappé leave without any sign of recognition. A tifo in tribute to the player should therefore be deployed in the Auteuil bend, embellished by a few songs which will not prevent its seven years of history from ending on a sad note.
