PARIS – Kylian Mbappe scored on his final home appearance as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Sunday (Monday Manila time), but the French champions suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat against Toulouse on the night they picked up the Ligue 1 championship trophy.
Mbappe confirmed in a video posted on social media on Friday that he would be leaving PSG when his contract expires at the end of the season, ending a seven-year a ssociation with the club.
Real Madrid is expected to be the next destination for a player whose departure from Paris had been an open secret since February, when he privately informed the club of his intention to move on.
Mbappe wore the captain’s armband and opened the scoring early on against Toulouse to take his tally for the season to 44 goals in all competitions.
However, Thijs Dallinga quickly equalized for the visitors against a PSG side, which showed 10 changes to the team knocked out of the Champions League by Borussia Dortmund in the semifinals in midweek, with Mbappe the only player to keep his place.
Yann Gboho put Toulouse ahead with a brilliant strike in the second half, and Frank Magri wrapped up the win in stoppage time as PSG suffered just their second Ligue 1 loss this season, and their first in 27 games since September.
Mbappe has now scored 256 times for PSG, a club-record tally, since signing from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million).
His tally of 191 goals in France’s top flight — including 16 with Monaco at the beginning of his career — puts him in seventh place in the all-ti me list. Coach Luis Enrique described the 25-year-old as “a club legend” when he spoke to media on the eve of the game.
PSG had indicated that celebrations after Sunday’s match would be dedicated to their title triumph, rather than any specific tribute to Mbappe himself.
There were even some jeers from the crowd for the striker when the teams were read out before the game, although a huge display was unfurled before kick-off at one end of the s tadium depicting Mbappe in a trademark pose with his arms folded.
“I heard applause, the supporters paid him a deserved tribute, he is a club legend despite his youth,” said Luis Enrique who described the banner as “beautiful”.
The Qatar-owned club had already wrapped up a record-extending 12th French title, and 10th in 12 years, before hosting a Toulouse side who were themselves safe from any lingering threat of relegation.
PSG’s Champions League disappointment means Mbappe will leave the club without ever having got his hands on European football’s greatest prize.
With Mbappe, PSG were runners-up in 2020 and have since reached the last four on two further occasions, but the France captain will now hope to finally get his hands on the trophy at his next club.
PSG can still finish the season by completing a clean sweep of domestic honours, as they face Lyon in the French Cup final in Lyon on May 25.
As well as Ligue 1, they have also already won the Champions Trophy, France’s equivalent of a Super Cup.
Luis Enrique’s team will complete their league campaign with a visit to Nice on Wednesday before going to Metz in their final game next Sunday.
Elsewhere, Mbappe’s first club Monaco clinched second place and automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League with a 2-0 win away at Montpellier.
Lille moved up into third place above Brest on goal difference as Jonathan David netted twice in their 2-1 win at Nantes.
The top three in Ligue 1 qualify directly for next season’s expanded, 36-team Champions League with the team finishing fourth entering the competition in the preliminary rounds.
Nice are fifth and trail both Lille and Brest by four points but still have a chance of a top-four place before hosting PSG in midweek.
Lens drew 1-1 at Rennes to hold onto sixth, while Orel Mangala’s goal gave Lyon a 1-0 win at Clermont as they kept their European hopes alive.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as Marseille beat Lorient 3-1 to also remain in the European picture.
At the bottom, Clermont’s defeat means they are relegated, while Lorient are almost certainly down too as they trail Metz by three points with one game left and have an inferior goal difference.
Metz, who lost 2-1 at Strasbourg, are therefore set to go into a playoff against a team from Ligue 2 with a top-flight place for next season on the line.
ROME, Italy – Novak Djokovic described his shock third-round elimination from the Rome Open by Alejandro Tabilo on Sunday (Monday Manila time) as “concerning”, two days after he was hit on the head by a bottle, which he said has caused nausea and dizzy spells.
Djokovic’s bid for a record-extending 41st Masters 1000 title was ended in just over an hour by Chilean Tabilo, who is ranked 32nd in the world and claimed his first win over a top-10 opponent, 6-2, 6-3.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner said that his subdued performance on a court where he has won six titles might have been due to the blow suffered while greeting fans on Friday night.
He had initially laughed off being accidentally struck on the head by a hard water bottle following his straightforward second-round win over Corentin Moutet, by wearing a cycling crash helmet to training on Saturday morning.
“I don’t know, to be honest. I have to check that. Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same,” Djokovic told reporters.
“Today under high stress, it was quite bad — not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago.”
Djokovic also said that he would have scans to “see what’s going on” before the French Open in Paris, where he will head not just worried by the after-effects of the bottle incident but also his form.
The last time Djokovic got to Roland Garros without a title to his name that season was in 2018, when his first honor of the campaign came at Wimbledon.
With the French Open getting underway in two weeks and where he is the defending champion, Djokovic admitted that “everything needs to be better in order for me to have at least a chance to win” a 25th Grand Slam.
“The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes,” added Djokovic. “It’s a bit concerning.”
Djokovic’s early elimination means that the last major men’s tournament before Roland Garros is now wide open with third seed Alexander Zverev beating home hope Luciano Darderi, ranked 54th in the world, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.
Tabilo was a worthy winner against Djokovic after tearing into his superstar opponent, claiming the biggest win of his career in remarkable style by hitting 22 winners, making just four unforced errors and not facing a single break point.
“Honestly in no moment was I like, Okay, I can win this,” said a delighted Tabilo.
“I was playing incredible tennis. Just wanted to keep that level… The whole match I was just trying to take it point by point, not think about the score. Every point was like the start of the match.”
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka will face Elina Svitolina for the first time since their handshake row at last year’s French Open after both cruised into the last women’s last 16.
Second seed Sabalenka beat Dayana Yastremska, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a clash in the next round with Svitolina, a two-time winner at the Foro Italico, who comfortably beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-3.
Svitolina accused Belarusian Sabalenka of inflaming tensions surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war for waiting at the net for a handshake after beating Ukrainian Svitolina in the Roland Garros quarterfinals in 2023.
Svitolina had already insisted she was not going to offer one, as all Ukraine players refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian rivals in protest at the ongoing war.
Sabalenka, who has never won in Rome but is a two-time champion on the Madrid clay, looks in good shape to at least match her 2022 run to the semifinals.
Earlier fifth seed Maria Sakkari lined up a probable last-16 clash with Victoria Azarenka who beat 80th-ranked Egyptian Mayar Sherif 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.