Kylian Mbappé is responsible for PSG’s Champions League exit

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappé gets the credit when his team wins. And it is to his credit that he took responsibility for Tuesday’s defeat.

The France international said his side’s defeat to Dortmund in the Champions League semi-final – which ended 2-0 on aggregate after PSG’s 1-0 defeat in the second leg – was down to missed opportunities, some of which came from him.

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“I tried to help my team as best I could but I didn’t do enough,” Mbappé said after the match at the Parc des Princes. “When we talk about being efficient in the areas, I think I’m the one who’s targeted. I’m the guy who has to score goals and be decisive. When things are going well, I’m in the spotlight and when that’s not the case, you I have to take the shade It’s not a problem.

“The first one who should have scored tonight was me. That’s life and we have to move forward, me and the team.”

With almost 70% possession and 30 shots in the lost second leg, the Ligue 1 champions hit the woodwork four times and came away empty-handed, but Mbappé said PSG were not unlucky, that they just wasn’t good enough.

“I don’t know if they were better than us. We don’t need to denigrate them,” Mbappé said. “In my humble opinion, they were superior in both areas. They came once or twice to ours and scored. We often went to theirs and we never managed to score. It’s a do.

“I don’t like to talk about bad luck. When you’re good, it doesn’t hit the post, it goes in. Today we weren’t good enough, us attackers.”

Dortmund scored early in the second half through Mats Hummels and did a good job of keeping Mbappé, who played primarily in the middle rather than the left wing, under control.

This could be Mbappé’s last Champions League match with PSG, as the World Cup winner is expected to leave the club at the end of the season. But when asked about his move to Real Madrid this summer, Mbappé simply rolled his eyes at reporters and walked away.

PSG had long periods of possession in the final 10 minutes, and Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel pushed Mbappé’s deflected point-blank shot onto the crossbar with a superb one-handed save, while the Parc crowd des Princes were groaning as midfielder Vitinha’s thumping 25-yard strike rattled. carpentry as I approach full time.

“I don’t think we were inferior in either match,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “The result is what it is and I congratulate them and wish them the best for the final. From our side, we have to recover from this hard blow.

“It’s a sad moment when you lose and especially in this way. I congratulate Borussia, they had an exceptional Champions League and in both games they played very well. We have six positions in total, 31 shots but “We didn’t score a goal. It’s impossible to believe.”

Dortmund are on course to win their second Champions League title after winning in 1997, while for PSG it is another season ending without lifting the trophy their Qatari owners so dream of.

“The players and the coach gave everything. Congratulations to Dortmund, we deserve better. It’s a difficult match. I’m proud of my team, the youngest in Europe,” said PSG president Nasser al -Khelaïfi.

“We have reached the semi-finals three times in five years. That’s not our goal, it’s still the final. It’s football, you have to accept it and sometimes it’s not fair. We will accept it.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.