After Champions League pre-quarters ouster to Bayern Munich, will Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe leave PSG?
UEFA Champions League 2022-23: PSG has suffered another early exit after being knocked out in the pre-quarters by Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, speculations have started to grow about Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe leaving the club.
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French champion Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG's) bid to win its maiden UEFA Champions League (UCL) continues to wait after it was knocked out of the ongoing season following a 0-2 loss to German champion Bayern Munich in the second leg of the pre-quarters at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Wednesday, while it was a 0-3 overall defeat, as the Parisians had lost the opening leg at home 0-1.
Meanwhile, as the PSG supporters are left heartbroken, speculations are again on the rise of whether the club's top strikers, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, will leave the club. While the Argentine remains linked to a return to Spanish giants Barcelona, Mbappe has been linked to the reigning Spanish and European champion Real Madrid and English giants Manchester United.
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Messi has not spoken about his future, with his contract expiring at the season-end. However, if reports are to be considered, while he hasn't signed an extension yet, he has a verbal agreement with the Parisians. Also, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has affirmed having met Messi's father-cum-agent Jorge but did not confirm talks of bringing him back to Camp Nou, with the club reportedly retaining interest over his return.
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On the other hand, while reports suggest that Mbappe could leave, with the Frenchman having penned an extension just last summer, an exit would be costly. While Madrid will have to be watchful of Financial Fair-Play (FFP) regulations, with La Liga introducing a new financial structure, United will also be attentive to the same, having spent loads of bucks in the transfer market in the past few seasons.
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Meanwhile, when asked about his future post Bayern failure, Mbappe declared (via FotMob), I'm calm. The only thing that matters to me this season is winning the championship, and then, we'll see. We are disappointed. That's how it is. We have to move on and try to challenge everyone. We only missed a little when we look at the state of the two teams, [but] they have a team built to win the Champions League. At the start of the season, during the first Champions League press conference, I said we would do our best and give our maximum. We will question ourselves and return to our day-to-day life in Ligue 1."