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French World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry has slammed Kylian Mbappe over his ‘attitude’ after Paris Saint-Germain scraped through into the Champions League last 16.
The French champions finished level on points with AC Milan and only qualified for the knockout stage due to their better head-to-head record against the Italian side.
There were moments in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund where it looked like PSG would be knocked out of Europe’s most prestigious tournament at the first hurdle.
Dugarry, who was part of France’s 1998 World Cup winning squad, has criticised Mbappe for not working hard enough during the clash against the Bundesliga side.
He said on RMC Sport: ‘I blame him for his attitude. I understand that statistics are important to him.
Kylian Mbappe has been criticised over his attitude shown in PSG’s 1-1 draw with Dortmund
Christophe Dugarry said he blames Mbappe for his ‘attitude’ saying he made ‘no effort’
Dugarry told RMC Sport that Mbappe is a player who is ‘not concerned with any defensive task’
‘He knew it was a match where he was expected. He had to be the leader of this PSG team and when I hear ‘leader’, I hear ‘exemplary’.
‘His qualities are not called into question, but the example has not been shown. He is a boy who is not concerned with any defensive task. He makes no effort when a defender passes three, four, five meters from him.’
He went on to suggest that Mbappe was more of an ‘individualist’ compared to France legend Zinedine Zidane who worked collectively with his team.
He said: ‘I saw a passive Mbappe. He only harangued his teammates at the end to complain. I want to tell him that he should have done it before. I didn’t see him press (Niklas) Sule and Mats Hummels. I was very, very disappointed in his behaviour.
PSG scraped through into the last-16 thanks to AC Milan coming back to beat Newcastle
‘He must get it in his head that a leader must set an example and feel concerned. I remember Zizou. When you saw him try so hard, run so much, defend so much, you had to move. Zizou was a collective, he is an individualist.’
PSG’s hopes of qualification were hanging by a thread during a crazy finale to Group F. They trailed 1-0 to Borussia Dortmund early in the second half and, at the time, Newcastle were leading AC Milan.
Warren Zaire-Emery quickly scored an equaliser for the French side before goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze for AC Milan at St James’ Park preserved PSG’s place in the Champions League.
Mbappe has enjoyed a prolific season for PSG scoring 18 goals in 20 appearances to date.