As Paris Saint-Germain prepares for a pivotal trip to Bayern Munich, Kylian Mbappe will lead the team into their match against Nantes on Saturday, searching for the goal to establish him as the club's all-time leading scorer.
Mbappe reached 200 goals for the Qatar-owned club last weekend and surpassed his former teammate Edinson Cavani to become their all-time leading scorer with a brace in PSG's 3-0 victory over bitter rivals Marseille.
It would be unexpected if a player who has scored four goals in his past two games since making a comeback from a thigh injury did not break the record against Nantes at the Parc des Princes.
Without a doubt, Kylian will break the record. He is undoubtedly the best striker in the world right now, according to PSG coach Christophe Galtier, who made the statement during the win over Marseille.
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He completes things quickly and is swift. He consistently shows up for important games, as do great players.
After joining PSG from Monaco in August 2017, it has only taken the French superstar 246 games and five and a half years to reach a double century of goals.
From 2013 and 2020, Uruguayan striker Cavani played 298 games to get there. Before 2016, the record belonged to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the first stars of the Qatar age, who scored 156 goals in his four years playing for Paris.
He was seated next to Lionel Messi as the Argentinean edged him out for the FIFA Best award for 2022 during a ceremony in a Paris theatre on Monday. France's agonizing loss on penalties in that epic match in Doha was undoubted all that stood in his way.
PSG is travelling to Germany for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, so they must erase a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Mbappe and Messi are preparing for next Wednesday's crucial match against Bayern.
Mbappe's injury limited his participation in that game to a brief cameo off the bench, but a slight offside call was all that stood between him and an equalizer.
As long as Mbappe is healthy, PSG has every reason to think they can win the Bayern match as Neymar recovers from an ankle injury.
Even though they are eight points ahead of the competition in Ligue 1 and on track to win another domestic championship, their season depends on that game.
