Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe said it is pointless scoring 50 goals if the French giants do not win Ligue 1 or the Champions League.
Mbappe scored 42 goals across all competitions last season, but PSG were dethroned by Lille in Ligue 1, while the capital club lost in the Champions League semi-finals.
PSG – who have never won the Champions League – are preparing for a quarter-final showdown with Real Madrid as they sit 13 points clear atop the Ligue 1 standings.
“Last year was good for me, I scored 40 goals, but we didn’t win the league or the Champions League,” Mbappe, who has 13 goals this term, told PSG’s television station.
“In the end I wonder, what is the use of scoring 50 goals if we don’t win? I would prefer to score less and win the league and Champions League.
“It was a good season but you don’t enjoy it, the aim is to win titles, they are the most important things.”
Mbappe – who has tallied nine goals and 14 assists in the league this term – became the youngest player in Ligue 1 history to score 100 goals for a single team with his second of the game for PSG against former club Monaco last week.
@KMbappe’s interview pic.twitter.com/V7IFHvW84j
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) December 16, 2021
Aged just 22 years and 357 days, Mbappe is the youngest player to achieve the feat for one club in French top-flight history since Opta began recording data back in 1950-51.
“I need to feel the pressure, to seek challenges, I’ve always wanted to have the responsibility on my shoulders,” France international Mbappe said.
“I want to be under pressure even if sometimes it ends in disappointment, it’s a learning process, I never hide and it is part of the adrenaline rush.
“This is because we like to play high-pressure games, games that everyone watches, I see pressure as something positive.”
PSG will face Feignies in the Coupe de France on Sunday before visiting Lorient in Ligue 1 action on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi has been involved in 43 shot-ending sequences in his last five appearances in Ligue 1, at least 14 more than any other player over that period. He has initiated nine of those sequences, also the highest tally in the top-flight.
Messi joined PSG from Barcelona at the start of the season and amid uncertainty of his own future, Madrid target Mbappe said: “It benefits you to have great players around you, I play in a team today with players who help me: Neymar, Messi, [Angel] Di Maria… it’s easier.”
