Mauricio Pochettino refused to discuss the future of Kylian Mbappe in the wake of Paris Saint-Germain’s dramatic loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League round-of-16 on Wednesday night.
Just as he had done in the first leg, Mbappe scored another excellent goal against the team to which he’s been strongly linked with a move this summer and put PSG 2-0 ahead on aggregate.
Seemingly cruising at half-time, it may have been tempting to wonder quite why the forward would want to swap this team of superstars for a Madrid side who often looked like an aging popstar now reduced to pale imitations of previous hits.
Still, Karim Benzema, the man who Mbappe could eventually replace in the Spanish capital, scored a quick-fire hat-trick after the break to condemn PSG to yet another embarrassment on the grandest of stages.
The manner of the defeat will raise question marks about the respective futures of both Pochettino and Mbappe, especially considering there has been little movement on the latter’s contract situation.
Currently, his deal is set to expire at the end of the season but, speaking after the game, Pochettino was in little mood to discuss that particular topic.
“It’s simply impossible to discuss about it now, it’s not the right moment,” he told RMC Sport.
“We’re really disappointed tonight.”
