L’Equipe: Kylian Mbappe’s grade after PSG miss out on Champions League final

​PSG were big favorites to reach the Champions League final, but they were defeated 2-0 on aggregate by Borussia Dortmund, and the biggest dream of the French champion will remain unfulfilled even after this season. After the defeat suffered at the Parc des Princes (0-1), the star Kylian Mbappe was criticized in L’Equipe, the most important French daily of sports.

>> Borussia Dortmund qualified for the Champions League final – Mbappe and company, goalless in the semi-finals

Kylian Mbappe, rated 2 by L’Equipe: “His mark in Paris will be tarnished forever”

Mbappe will leave for Real Madrid this summer and French journalists say his “footprint in Paris will be tarnished forever”. The 25-year-old striker received a grade 2, as did Ousmane Dembele.

“The dream of a historic quadruple was dashed for PSG on Tuesday. Defeated by Dortmund in the second leg of the semi-finals with the same score as in the round (0-1), the Parisian club will have to wait at least another year to win the Champions League. In an incandescent Parc des Princes, the game was uninteresting.

The Parisians’ freshness and confidence should have made the difference against an opponent relegated to the Bundesliga (5th place). But nothing went according to plan. The coaches’ plan was fatal for Kylian Mbappe’s colleagues, the first affected by this failure.

He will never lift the Cup with ‘big ears’ with his beloved club, PSG. Played on the left, despite being his preferred area, the ‘Les Bleus’ captain was outclassed. His mark in Paris will remain stained forever”, noted the journalists from L’Equipe.

Mbappe lost the ball 18 times in Tuesday’s decisive game against PSG.

“We shot a lot, but we weren’t efficient. I don’t really like to talk about bad luck, when you’re good you don’t hit the bar, you score, we weren’t good enough in that area. I tried as hard as I could, and the first one to score tonight was me.

It wasn’t an overconfidence, our group was calm, that’s how football is, we didn’t put all the necessary ingredients to reach the final. Now we have to overcome this plague, both me and the team.

It is a long process, but we have shown this season that we are capable of going further. It’s not all tossed away, there are still goals to be achieved this season.

We are very disappointed, because we wanted to qualify, but in the Champions League you have to be efficient in the box, and in this respect they were better than us” – Kylian Mbappeat the end of the game.

At the end of the match, Mbappe was asked if he would be playing for Real Madrid in the semi-final against Bayern Munich, and the forward rolled his eyes and walked away.

Things to know after Borussia Dortmund qualified for the Champions League final:

• The only goal of the match in Paris was scored by Mats Hummels (’50), after a corner executed excellently by Julian Brandt. In the round, the team coached by Edin Terzic won thanks to the success of Niclas Fullkrug (’36).

• We remind you that Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will face each other on Wednesday in the other semi-final. In the first leg, it was 2-2 at the Allianz Arena.

• After finishing in first place in Group F (which also included PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle), Borussia Dortmund eliminated PSV in the round of 16 (1-1 away and 2-0 at home), Atletico Madrid in the quarters (1-2 at Metropolitano and 4-2 at home) and PSG in the semi-finals (1-0 at Westfalenstadion and 1-0 at Parc des Princes).

• Dortmund has had an underwhelming season in the Bundesliga: they are in 5th place, but are confident of their presence in the next edition of the Champions League.

• Borussia Dortmund have reached the Champions League final twice: they won the trophy in the 1996/97 season (3-1 in the final with Juventus in Munich), but were defeated by rivals Bayern Munich in the 2012/13 season (1- 2, right at Wembley, where the last act of this edition will also be played).

• The final of the Champions League, season 2023/2024, will be played on June 1, at Wembley Stadium in London.