‘It is sadly the law of football’: Kylian Mbappe pays tribute to Thomas Tuchel after he was ruthlessly sacked by PSG… with ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino set to take over at French giants
- Thomas Tuchel signed Kylian Mbappe permanently in the summer of 2018
- The German took the French superstar’s goalscoring statistics to new heights
- After a rocky first season, Tuchel led Paris Saint-Germain to a domestic treble
- PSG also reached a first Champions League final – but lost to Bayern Munich
- However, PSG’s uncharacteristically poor form in the league cost Tuchel his job
Kylian Mbappe has spoken in glowing terms about Thomas Tuchel after the German was sacked by Paris Saint-Germain the day after he had guided the team to a 4-0 win over Strasbourg in Ligue 1.
The 22-year-old scored the second of those four goals as PSG cruised to victory, but their inconsistent league form means they are third, one point behind Lyon and Lille on Christmas Day.
They drew 0-0 with Lille on Sunday, having lost 1-0 to Rudi Garcia’s Lyon earlier this month.
Thomas Tuchel signed Kylian Mbappe permanently in the summer of 2018 from Monaco
Tuchel’s luck ran out despite Paris Saint-Germain beating Strasbourg 4-0 on December 23
Former Paris Saint-Germain player Mauricio Pochettino is favourite to take over the hot-seat
Nevertheless, PSG have displayed good enough form to progress to the Champions League knockout phase, as they finished top of a group that contained RB Leipzig and Manchester United. They face Barcelona in the last-16.
However, this European promise was not enough to convince club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who disposed of the German’s services on Christmas Eve with former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino the favourite to take over having been out of a job since November last year.
Posting on Instagram, Mbappe said: ‘It is sadly the law of football. Nobody will forget your time here. You wrote a wonderful part of the club’s history and I say to you: “thank you, coach.”‘
Tuchel replaced Unai Emery at PSG in May 2018, with the Spaniard moving to Arsenal for what proved to be a fraught 18-month spell.
Mbappe signed permanently for the club in July that year having been on loan the previous season from Monaco.
Fresh from a World Cup triumph that saw Mbappe score in the final, he took his finishing to new heights under the former Borussia Dortmund head coach.
He scored 33 times in 29 Ligue 1 games in 2018-19 in a season when PSG won the league title, but lost the Coupe de France final to Rennes, bowed out of the Coupe de la Ligue at the quarter-final stage to Guingamp and were knocked out of the Champions League in the last-16 by Man United in heartbreaking fashion after a controversial penalty was converted by Marcus Rashford to seal the win on away goals.
Mbappe scored 83 goals in 98 games under Tuchel as the German took his game up a level
However, an uncharacteristic lack of consistency in Ligue 1 has proved PSG’s undoing this term
It was PSG’s least successful season trophy-wise for six years, but the club stuck by Tuchel and were rewarded with a domestic treble last season as well as their first-ever Champions League final, where they came up just short against an impressive Bayern Munich team.
It was the French champions’ patchy league form this term that did for Tuchel.
The team unexpectedly lost their opening two Ligue 1 matches of the campaign against Lens and Marseille without scoring in either game and despite eight wins on the bounce sending them five points clear at the top, PSG’s frailties were never far away as they embarrassingly let slip a 2-0 lead against Monaco to lose before squandering an advantage against Bordeaux.
More dropped points against Lyon and Lille seem to have made the board’s mind up, but Tuchel is likely to be near the top of the shortlist for any big job when the next high-profile manager is axed.