As Kylian Mbappé bids farewell to Ligue 1 and prepares to join Real Madrid, we reflect on his record-breaking career at PSG, including his 256 goals and six league titles. Discover the milestones and emotional moments of his journey in French football.
Nine years after his debut, Kylian Mbappé is set to bid farewell to the French league as Paris Saint-Germain faces struggling Metz on Sunday.
He has one final opportunity to increase his club-record tally of 256 goals, with 191 of those scored in the league.
“A page is turning, a chapter of my life is closing,” said the 25-year-old Mbappé, who was voted the French league’s best player for the fifth time by his peers. “I leave with my head held high, having done all that I could.”
The French Cup final against Lyon on May 25 will mark his last game in a PSG jersey before his anticipated move to join Spanish giant Real Madrid.
Mbappé and Madrid have yet to announce the deal.
MBAPPE’S RISE
“I will miss it,” Mbappé said about playing in France. “It’s the only league I’ve known.”
Mbappé was approaching his 17th birthday when he made his debut for Monaco at Stade Louis II in December 2015. He scored his first goal a few months later, breaking Thierry Henry’s record as the club’s youngest scorer.
Even before signing his first professional contract, it was clear a star was emerging; a talent not seen in Ligue 1 since Karim Benzema broke into the Lyon side at 17.
In the following season, Mbappé’s goals propelled Monaco to win Ligue 1 and reach the Champions League semifinals.
GOALS GALORE
This has been his second consecutive season with 40 or more goals and third overall. With two games remaining, he has a career-high 44 goals.
Mbappé has played alongside stars like Neymar, Ángel Di María, Edinson Cavani, and Lionel Messi, and won six league titles with PSG. He will also finish as the league’s top scorer for the sixth time, and fifth outright after sharing the 2020 award with Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder.
Mbappé confirmed last Friday that he is leaving at the season’s end, having informed PSG in February.
He was emotional when highlights of his French soccer career were shown during Monday night’s awards ceremony.
“When I looked at the footage it felt like a part of my life (was) being extinguished,” he said. “There’s the excitement about discovering something new but also emotion; the sentiment of leaving my country behind and carrying on my path.”
The path hasn’t always been smooth.
He failed to score in the knockout stages of the pandemic-shortened Champions League in 2020—missing good chances in the final when PSG lost to Bayern Munich 1-0—and did not score in both legs of the recent semifinal defeats to Borussia Dortmund, both of which ended 1-0.
“People will always expect more from me,” Mbappé said. “That’s normal and I’ve always liked that.”
At Madrid, where Benzema became a club great with 354 goals and five Champions League titles, the expectations on Mbappé will be even higher.
But it feels like a necessary step for a player with the ambition of winning the men’s Ballon d’Or and the Champions League multiple times.
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