The French star shone off the bench and admits he was desperate to remind the club what he can bring to the table
Kylian Mbappe took just 30 minutes to show Paris Saint-Germain what they’ve been missing in his absence.
The 20-year-old scored a hat-trick and claimed an assist after coming on in the 62nd minute of PSG’s 5-0 Champions League win against Club Brugge.
Having only just overcome a thigh injury, Mbappe has been eased back into Thomas Tuchel’s side with the attacker desperate to make his mark on Tuesday.
“I wanted to start, I thought I would start. The coach chose, I had to accept,” Mbappe told RMC Sport 1.
“I wanted to go back and show that it’s hard to do without me even if the others played very well. I want to fight to keep my place and help the team to the maximum.
“Football is a passion. I love playing football, it’s been two months since I could play a football game.”
Mbappe has already missed six games this season through injury with his latest fitness set-back now firmly behind him.
“It was very painful, I was lucky to come back,” he said. “The embarrassment is gone, I thank the medical staff, the doc, the physios. They have understood my situation. It’s over, everything is behind me.”
The Frenchman’s three goals against Brugge has seen him become the youngest player to score 15 times in the Champions League.
Having also scored and assisted in a seven-minute appearance against Nice on the weekend, Mbappe looks on track for another big season having only missed out on the Golden Shoe last season by three goals.
PSG captain Thiago Silva was happy to see his young teammate bounce back so quickly and believes his team played well across the pitch against their Belgian opponents.
“Mbappe had a very good start, it was important for him because he was coming back from injury, but he is still there, we saw a very big Kylian Mbappe,” Silva said.
“Brugge defended well, they were strong, it was difficult to find spaces, I am very happy because when there are moments of difficulty, you can lose your head but that was not the case.
“Our performance was solid defensively, we were very intelligent.”
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