Good… but still not perfect! Mbappe gets a rare 9/10 in L’Equipe’s notorious player ratings for PSG’s destruction of Barcelona, but Antoine Griezmann and Sergio Busquets are slammed and Sergino Dest gets a TWO
- Kylian Mbappe produced a masterclass as his hat-trick schooled Barcelona
- It was a mesmerising performance but it was not deemed perfection by L’Equipe
- Mbappe’s treble has put PSG on the brink of reaching the quarter-final stage
- The French newspaper are notoriously strict when it comes to player ratings
- Only 11 players in history have been handed a perfect score of 10/10 by L’Equipe
To those that thought Kylian Mbappe achieved perfection with his stunning hat-trick against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, think again.
The 22-year-old produced a breathtaking performance on Tuesday night to put Paris Saint-Germain on the brink of reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League.
But that was not enough to get full marks from French daily newspaper L’Equipe as their notoriously strict player ratings could only stretch to a 9/10 for the free-scoring Mbappe.
Kylian Mbappe produced one of the most iconic Nou Camp performances to beat Barcelona
His hat-trick blew Barcelona away and has PSG on the brink of reaching the quarter finals
But L’Equipe’s player ratings could only stretch to a 9/10 despite his impressive hat-trick
L’Equipe have a history of offering up particularly harsh critique and finding fault where others cannot and Mbappe can feel hard done by to have not managed top marks, which would have placed him in a very exclusive club.
Only 11 players in history have been given a score of 10/10 by L’Equipe with Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry the most recent recipient.
Gnabry’s four goals for Bayern Munich in their 7-2 demolition of Tottenham in October 2019 saw L’Equipe even hold their hands up in amazement.
In the reasoning attributed to Mbappe’s 9/10 rating, L’Equipe wrote that the Frenchman delivered a ‘high-level performance’ and his hat-trick was ‘only done once before’ by an opposition player at the Nou Camp.
The ratings were less forgiving for Barcelona with Sergio Busquets (left) handed a 3/10 score
Antoine Griezmann was accused of ‘disappearing’ in the second half as he too scored 3/10
But while Mbappe will be left to nit-pick the one mark he was missing, Barcelona’s dressing room were savaged in the ratings which gave no player more than a five out of 10.
Lionel Messi and goalkeeper Marc Andre ter-Stegen were the two given half marks but L’Equipe were not so forgiving on Sergio Busquets and French striker Antoine Griezmann, with both receiving a score of 3/10.
Griezmann, they said, ‘made some nice moves’ early in the game but ‘disappeared’ after half-time. L’Equipe also deemed him culpable for not tracking the run of Alessandro Florenzi for PSG’s second goal.
For Busquets he was criticised for his reliance on Frenkie de Jong and Pedri ‘to hide his shortcomings’ physically and his man-marking job on Marco Verratti was ‘only partially fulfilled’.
The worst rating of the night was saved for ‘shipwreck’ Sergino Dest (left) who got 2/10
The most stinging criticism of all was saved for Sergino Dest, the player given the thankless task of trying – and failing – to keep Mbappe quiet, as he received a humiliating 2/10 rating.
‘The right side experienced a shipwreck,’ L’Equipe wrote in their comments.
Dest ‘suffered all evening’ and was ‘constantly retreating’ to compensate for his inability to match Mbappe’s pace.
It was a nightmare performance which saw him substituted first by Barcelona.
