After a convulsive and tension-filled summer of 2021, the boards of Real Madrid and PSG, with their presidents Florentino Pérez and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi at the helmfaces are seen again. Although it will not be on Tuesday night, since the dinner that was to take place at the prestigious Guy Savoy, named the best restaurant in the world in 2020 and holder of three Michelin stars, has been cancelled. The setting was idyllic, on the banks of the Seine, next to the Pont Neuf that gives access to the Ile de la Cité, the land that rises above the river to house, among other emblematic buildings, the Notre Dame Cathedral. It has been postponed and there will be food on Wednesday, the time and place are not yet known. In Madrid they do not know the reason for the change; they will limit themselves to going to where PSG indicates, since it is the host club.
Less idyllic will be what happens in that official match for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, which will take place on Tuesday at the Parc des Princes from 9:00 p.m., although from Real Madrid Important efforts have been made in recent months to not give PSG reasons to go back on the attack. Last summer an attempt was made to remove Mbappé from Paris, PSG rejected 200 million for a player with a one-year contract and then came the disqualifications, especially through the mouth of Leonardo, sports director of PSG. Madrid preferred to keep quiet and wait, knowing that he has the winning hand at the table: Mbappé still does not renew with PSG and the white club is confident that his conviction to play at the Santiago Bernabéu has not changed one iota.
Al-Khelaïfi and Florentino Pérez.
JAVIER GANDUL
At this point, all the actors know that the game is well on its way and that Mbappé wants to play for Madrid. Being in the last six months of his contract, he is free to sign whenever he wants, although it is true that article 18 of the FIFA transfer regulations establishes that this intention must be notified to his current club in writing. A communication that reaffirms what everyone knows: Madrid is betting everything on Mbappé. Nor is it that PSG need to be aware of Real Madrid’s interest in Bondy’s striker; he knows that it exists from the moment he almost took it in 2017, then coming from Monaco. “Madrid will wait for me,” Mbappé himself confessed to those close to him at the time.
The tension that will be experienced on Tuesday at the official meal contrasts with a relationship over the years between the two clubs that has been very good: Florentino and Al-Khelaïfi have been seen together during Roland Garros and both teams have played friendlies in middle of the season for mutual benefit. The attempt to sign Mbappé wiped out all those years of cordiality; today Madrid will make an effort to continue sewing relationsaware that in his dream of making the Super League a reality he needs the powerful French club, while all the guests at the meeting will know that Mbappé has already chosen his destination.