Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappé has said he misses playing alongside his former teammate Lionel Messi.
Messi, an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, played two seasons with Mbappé at PSG before joining Inter Miami as a free agent in July 2023.
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During their time together, Mbappé and Messi won two league titles and a French Cup, although Messi and teammate Neymar were booed in their final months at the club after suffering successive eliminations from the Champions League in the round of 16.
“You always miss playing with Leo Messi,” Mbappé told Amazon Prime Sport. “For a striker like me, you love running into space, with him [in your team] you are sure you can get the ball. It is a luxury that only he can give you. Overall, playing with him has been special. “Messi deserves all the respect and in fact in France he did not receive the respect that he deserved.”
Mbappé, who scored on Wednesday to help PSG clinch the French Champions Trophy, said after the match that he has yet to make a decision about his future.
The French World Cup winner is a long-time target of Real Madrid and his contract with PSG expires this summer.
“I haven’t made a decision yet,” Mbappé told reporters. “I haven’t made any decisions.
“But as I said, the most important thing is the titles. We have already won one and we are determined to win more.”
Mbappé, 25, was close to joining Madrid in the summer of 2022 before announcing a U-turn and staying at the Parc des Princes.
Mbappé, who signed from Monaco in 2017 and is PSG’s all-time top scorer, has won five Ligue 1 titles with the club. PSG leads Ligue 1 by five points and will face Real Sociedad in the Champions League round of 16.
