Kylian Mbappé takes the blame for PSG’s exit from the Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappé takes the credit when his team wins. And to his credit, he took the blame when they lost on Tuesday.

The French international said his team’s defeat to Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals, which ended 2-0 on aggregate after PSG’s 1-0 defeat in the second leg, was due to opportunities. wasted, some of which came from him.

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“I tried to help my team as best I could, but I didn’t do enough,” Mbappé said after the game at the Parc des Princes. “When we talk about being efficient in the area, I think the goal is me. I’m the guy who has to score goals and be decisive. When things are going well, I take center stage and when they don’t, you have to take the shadows. That It is not a problem.

“The first one who should have scored tonight was me. That’s life and we have to move on, me and the team.”

With almost 70% of the possession and 30 shots in the second leg defeat, the Ligue 1 champions hit the woodwork four times and came up empty-handed, but Mbappé said PSG were not unlucky, they just weren’t good enough.

“I don’t know if they were better than us. We don’t need to denigrate them,” Mbappé said. “In my humble opinion, they were superior in both teams. They came to ours once or twice and scored. We went to theirs many times and never managed to score. It’s a fact.

“I don’t like to talk about bad luck. When you’re good, it doesn’t hit the post, it goes in. Today, we attackers weren’t good enough.”

Dortmund scored early in the second half through Mats Hummels and did a good job of keeping Mbappé, who played primarily in the middle and not on the left wing, at bay.

It could be Mbappe’s last Champions League game for PSG as the World Cup winner is expected to leave the club at the end of the season. But when asked about his alleged move to Real Madrid this summer, Mbappé simply rolled his eyes at reporters and walked away from him.

PSG had long periods of possession in the final 10 minutes, and Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel pushed Mbappé’s deflected close-range shot onto the crossbar with a magnificent one-handed save, while the Parc des Princes crowd groaned as the midfielder Vitinha finished from 25 meters. carpentry as full time approached.

“I don’t think we were inferior in either game,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique. “The result is what it is and I congratulate them and wish them the best for the final. For our part, we have to recover from this hard blow.

“It is a sad moment when you lose and especially in this way. I congratulate Borussia, they have had a spectacular Champions League and in the two games they have competed very well. We have six posts in total, 31 shots but we have not scored.” a goal. It seems impossible to believe.”

Dortmund is on track to win its second Champions League title after winning it in 1997, while for PSG it is another season that ends without lifting the trophy its Qatari owners so covet.

“The players and the coach gave everything. Congratulations to Dortmund, we deserved better. It’s a tough game. I’m proud of my team, the youngest in Europe,” said PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi.

“We have reached the semi-finals three times in five years. That is not our goal, it is still the final. That is football, we have to accept it and sometimes it is not fair. We will accept it.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this article.