Why Kylian Mbappe & Nasser Al-Khelaifi Had a ‘Fight’ Before His Final PSG Match

According to reports Kylian Mbappe and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi had a ‘fight’ before Paris Saint-Germain vs Toulouse. The game was the Frenchman’s final home match with the Ligue 1 outfit.

The 25-year-old officially announced he will be leaving PSG at the end of the season last week, and the expectation is that he will join Real Madrid in the summer. With his departure confirmed, the league outing on Sunday was the last time he would play at the Parc des Princes for Luis Enrique’s team.

While the match itself was a disappointment, with the home team – having already wrapped up another Ligue 1 title – falling to a shock 3-1 home defeat there was drama before the game even began. Mbappe even scored after eight minutes before the wheels came off.

Mbappe and Al-Khelaifi Clash

The ‘walls shook’

As per Le Parisien, via Goal, Mbappe and Al-Khelaifi screamed at each other in a heated incident that turned ugly. In fact, the private discussion was so intense that one source even claimed that the ‘walls shook’.

It’s understood that the altercation came around as the PSG president wanted to know why his name had not been brought up during the French winger’s goodbye message. The World Cup winner had thanked a number of people but did not name-check Al-Khelaifi.

As a consequence of the fallout behind the scenes, the home team were actually late coming out for their warm-up. Indeed, they took to the pitch four minutes later than usual. These off-field issues could perhaps go some way to explaining the disappointing display vs Toulouse.

In a press release sent to several media on Monday evening, PSG confirmed that a meeting had taken place before the start of the match. They claimed, however, that this was to “finalise the departure arrangements” for the end of the season, and denied that there was a clash between the two men.

Mbappe Booed on his Depature

It seems as though Mbappe has annoyed more than just Al-Khelaifi with his decision to leave Paris after seven years. The PSG fans were more than happy to make their feelings known as they booed the player when his name was announced in the starting XI by the PA system ahead of kick-off – as you can see in the clip above.

That said, it wasn’t all anger towards the club’s record-goalscorer with an impressive tifo also being unfurled ahead of the game. This was organised by the Paris Ultras Collective, with PSG not officially setting up any proper farewell tribute – they reportedly weren’t expecting his exit to be announced so soon, and so did not have time to prepare anything.

However, it should not be forgotten that the Ligue 1 Champions do have three more games to play, including a cup final, before the season is over. Mbappe’s last PSG match will be on May 25 in the French Cup final against Lyon.