Kylian Mbappe is the elephant in the room as PSG and Real Madrid chiefs dine tonight

Kylian Mbappe is the elephant in the room as PSG and Real Madrid chiefs dine tonight ahead of Champions League clash… one of his final acts in Paris could be to knock his suitors out of Europe – but he’s desperate for success before he leaves

  • All eyes will be on Kylian Mbappe as PSG play Real Madrid in Champions League
  • The PSG striker looks set to join Real Madrid on a free transfer in the summer
  • He is not likely to be a topic of conversation when club chiefs dine tonight
  • Although Mbappe is heading to Madrid, he wants to end on a high note in Paris 


Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is due to meet his opposite number Nasser Al-Khelaifi tonight at the Guy Savoy restaurant in Paris for the traditional pre-Champions League dinner. The elephant in the three Michelin-star dining room on the banks of the Seine will be Kylian Mbappe.

PSG won’t much fancy discussing the player who will leave them this summer for Real Madrid. And Madrid won’t want to talk too much about the man who most threatens their Champions League survival.

Mbappe doesn’t want to leave PSG with the whole of Paris hating him and he knows the best way to ensure he’s waved off fondly is to win PSG their first Champions League, knocking Real Madrid out en route.

Kylian Mbappe is set to face the club he is likely to move to in the Champions League this week

Mbappe is greeted by PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi as he walks out to training on Monday

Mbappe is greeted by PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi as he walks out to training on Monday

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid chiefs will dine tonight at the Guy Savoy restaurant

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid chiefs will dine tonight at the Guy Savoy restaurant

It’s the least he can do after running down his current deal, rejecting at least two offers to extend his contract, so that he can join Real Madrid on a free transfer at the end of this season.

The word ‘free’ is a little deceiving because although PSG will not see a single euro Madrid will have to pay a sizeable signing on fee and before they part with it they may find themselves on the wrong end of the 23-year-old’s brilliance.

‘Mbappe is technically incredible,’ said his current coach Mauricio Pochettino to El Pais in the build-up to Tuesday’s game. ‘He can combine with his team-mates and play a more positional game, but he also likes to play facing goal, running into space, because he has the ability to do so.’

So far this season there have been no signs that Mbappe is not putting in a shift in his final year in France. He has been PSG’s best player, comfortably outshining Lionel Messi and Neymar. On Tuesday night Madrid fear that he will be the one to hurt them before he finally becomes one of theirs next summer.

Florentino Perez will meet Al-Khelaifi for dinner tonight, but Mbappe is unlikely to come up

Florentino Perez will meet Al-Khelaifi for dinner tonight, but Mbappe is unlikely to come up

Mbappe has outshone former Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi (pictured) at PSG this season

Mbappe has outshone former Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi (pictured) at PSG this season

Throughout the build up to the two games the Spanish club have done their best to respect a club that they have tried never to fall out with even when differences of opinion over the European Super League and the issue of Financial Fair Play (FFP) have set them at loggerheads.

They are effectively doing to PSG what the French club did to Barcelona last summer when they took Messi but the big difference is that the relationship between Perez and Al-Khelaifi has tended to be healthier than between the Parisians and Barça, where antagonism has reigned since Barcelona turned their back on Qatar as a sponsor, and peaked when PSG paid Neymar’s buy-out clause.

Real Madrid will be desperate to lift the Champions League this season

Real Madrid will be desperate to lift the Champions League this season

Madrid also know PSG have the financial might to damage them in the market by inflating the price for Erling Haaland, who the Spanish club would like to sign in 2023, or unsettling the likes of Vinicius and Eder Militao.

The other big difference between PSG signing Messi and Real Madrid signing Mbappe is that the Argentine is coming towards the end of his career and has had a limited impact – by his standards – in Paris, and Mbappe has not yet reached his prime.

The excitement in Madrid for his arrival is matched only by the frustration in Paris but they feel there is nothing they can do. 

Mbappe had Madrid posters on his wall when he was a kid. For all the money involved this really is a boyhood dream and it seems it doesn’t matter what PSG offered last summer he was always going to leave the way clear to move for nothing at the end of this season.

He wants to bow out of Paris with the Champions League, though. 

It will only make his arrival next June more spectacular and if he has to beat Madrid en-route so be it. Madrid are hoping they will have their own silver bullet ready in the chamber. 

Mbappe, although heading for the exit, wants to secure success before moving to Madrid

Mbappe, although heading for the exit, wants to secure success before moving to Madrid

Gareth Bale played up top for Real Madrid at the weekend, with injuries hampering the side

Gareth Bale played up top for Real Madrid at the weekend, with injuries hampering the side

Karim Benzema has scored 24 goals this season and although he has not trained properly since straining a hamstring on January 23 he is expected to be risked. Without him Madrid have scored just once in their last three games despite 48 shots. 

Midfielders have been tried as ‘false’ nines and Gareth Bale played centre forward at the weekend, doing well enough in a game he came closest to settling by hitting the crossbar.

Madrid need Benzema. He’s their best chance of them taking on Mbappe, before next summer when the two of them will almost certainly be lining up on the same side.