Kylian Mbappe has urged Paris Saint-Germain fans to back the team after they booed Lionel Messi and Neymar during a recent Ligue 1 clash.
Last month, the two South American superstars were booed with every touch of the ball by PSG fans during a league meeting against Bordeaux. Those boos came just a day after PSG ultras called on president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to resign following the latest European humbling for their club.
The French capital club were left stunned as they were eliminated from the Champions League in last month’s Round of 16 tie against Real Madrid with a late collapse in the game. It was another failing in Europe’s premier club competition for PSG, who have not tasted success in the competition despite securing their major Qatar-backed takeover in 2011.
The PSG ultras have called for meaningful change in the club’s board of directors, a month on from their major protest at a Ligue 1 clash in which they blasted the ‘overpaid mercenaries’ on their books and attacked the board. During the clash against Bordeaux, every time Mbappe – who is set to leave the club this summer as a free agent with contract talks at a standstill – touched the ball, there were notable cheers and applause from the PSG support.
Many of his teammates were booed but Messi and Neymar were singled out for the criticism, with fans turning their ire on the effort and application during their time with the club.
There has been a notable souring of the relationship between the club’s fans with the hierarchy at PSG and many of the club’s star players. But Mbappe – who is one of the few that has retained the full backing of the fanbase – has called on them to support the side ahead of this weekend’s Ligue 1 meeting against Marseille.
The striker told Canal+: “We would love the supporters to be with us. We understand their disappointment. If they’re with us it would be amazing, if not, we’ll do our job anyway.”
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PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino echoed the comments of Mbappe: “Next Sunday against Marseille is not a bonus game, it’s a special game. The supporters have every right to protest. We’re a democracy, but we hope that they will be with us and that they will leave their disappointment and anger to one side. All that to demonstrate to the whole world a strong image of our club.”
Nasser Al-Khelaifi became the new president and CEO of PSG in October 2011 and despite a multitude of domestic trophies since, the club have yet to find success on the European stage. Their best performance in the competition was in the 2019/20 campaign, when they reached the final under Thomas Tuchel but fell short in the final against Bayern Munich.
