Paris (AFP)
Leaders Paris Saint-Germain is looking to end the year in the best way, when it hosts the struggling Lorient in the last 19 stage of the first leg of the French Football League, without its suspended top scorer Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe was at his peak during the recent period, having scored four goals in two of his last three matches.
Mbappe will not be able to continue his fireworks before the end of the year, as he went on an early leave, due to the suspension due to the accumulation of yellow cards, which prevented him from playing the match at the “Stade de Mostoir-if Alanma” on Wednesday.
Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino will also have to deal with the absence of Italian midfielder Marco Verratti, who is absent for the same reason.
Pochettino admitted that “Mbappe is a very important player”, which requires him to review his entire offensive style in the absence of the French “jet”.
Saint-Germain leads the standings with a relatively comfortable difference of 12 points from Marseille, the second closest to it, while Lorient occupies the penultimate 19th place, with 15 points, but one point behind the safety zone.
In the absence of Mbappe, who scored ten goals this season in “Ligue 1,” the Argentine coach will look for alternative solutions, especially since the star of the French team that won the World Cup 2018, was at the core of the Paris performance this season.
In the only match that Mbappe missed in the French league due to illness this season, which ended in a 2-1 victory over Lille, Pochettino was forced to include his compatriot Lionel Messi as the center of the attack, supporting the wings of the Brazilian Neymar on the left side and his other compatriot Angel Di Maria on the right.
This solution could have worked against Lorient… However, the Brazilian star has been out for a while due to an injury.
Therefore, his absence presents an opportunity for the other Argentine striker, Mauro Icardi, to replace Mbappe, but this will force Pochettino to put Messi in the center of the winger, which does not suit the player’s potential as a playmaker.
The biggest concern against Pochettino remains the effective integration of Messi into the team’s composition, after he scored one goal in ten matches in the local league, before the start of the most important stage of the season, especially on the front of the Champions League, where the team faces a careful test against Real Madrid, the champion. Champions League 13 times (record). Also, Pochettino was never able to enter the same squad in two consecutive matches due to the many absences from the team.
And the sports director of the Brazilian club, Leonardo, defended a question about the Argentine “flea” performance on Sunday, saying: Messi is indisputable for me. If you start arguing about Messi, you don’t know anything about football.
And Leonardo continued, “If you look at Messi’s numbers, his first six months were amazing. He and Mbappe participated in almost all of the club’s goals. With Messi, we are definitely more competitive. He can decide every game.”
Messi, who missed the last match in the French Cup to rest, will be tested for the first time without Neymar or Mbappe, with whom he formed the dangerous trio “MNM”.
But he will arm himself with his great knowledge of the duo Icardi and Di Maria, but the latter two have also known, just like Messi, an uneven season until now.
Icardi lives in a dearth of goals, as he remained fast for three months, until he scored on Sunday, but against a team from the fifth division. The Argentine player is going through a difficult period as a result of personal problems, to which were added in the past few days a case of corruption and money laundering that may enter him in a judicial tunnel.
This situation sparked rumors about his departure this winter, as the Italian press indicated the interest of Italian clubs in his inclusion.
“He is waiting for the opportunity to play, like all players who have low playing time,” said Pochettino, who hopes to see his compatriot recover in the next match.
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