And so they met again. A year after leaving Paris St-Germain in a bitter manner to join Real Madrid on a free transfer, Kylian Mbappe will face his former team for the first time in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup semi-final. It will be a bit special, a bit tense and also quite nostalgic.
This is especially true because the Paris-born star spent 7 years at the Parc des Princes, with many ups and downs. Mbappe still has a close connection with PSG. His father Wilfrid was even present last Saturday when PSG beat Bayern Munich in Atlanta.
Mbappe felt this was the right time for him to leave the French capital and fulfill his dream of playing at the Bernabeu. And no one can blame him for that. But what makes this reunion special is not what PSG have lacked since his departure, but what PSG have achieved without him. They will become the world's best club in 2025 - a team without stars when they all play for each other, attack and defend together.
However, this will also be a tense reunion as Mbappe is still involved in a fierce legal battle with PSG over unpaid wages and bonuses. The French captain asked to pay the 55 million Euros that he said the club owed him since last season. PSG argued that Mbappe had agreed to give up this amount of money when he decided to leave the club without a transfer fee.
Despite that, Mbappe and PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi will meet again for the first time in a year. They will not ignore each other and even intend to shake hands, a source from both sides told ESPN, but there is still hesitation between them.
Al-Khelaifi is still outraged by Mbappe's departure, even though he gave the star some kind words last month. "We are lucky not to have Mbappe this year, but I wish him all the best at Madrid, from the bottom of my heart" - said the PSG President.
In the end, it will be a missed meeting because despite all the legal problems, Mbappe is still a PSG legend. Scoring 256 goals in 308 games for a club is unusual. If you add the assists, Mbappe's achievements in 7 years at PSG are even more impressive.
Mbappe is often invincible for PSG. He has excelled in Ligue 1 and won many domestic titles, but has yet to taste the glory of the Champions League.
Mbappe reached the final with PSG in 2019 and reached the semi-finals twice (2020-2021, 2023-2024). This is clearly a irony: PSG became better and stronger after Mbappe left, and they won the 2024-2025 Champions League.
The match between PSG and Real Madrid takes place at 2:00 am on July 10 (Vietnam time).
