Why Real Madrid cheered PSG going out of Champions League

Stuart Telford

• 9 Mar 2023 10:17 GMT
• 3 min read

Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich on Wednesday, much to the delight of Real Madrid…

PSG were beaten 2-0 in the Allianz Arena having lost 1-0 at the Parc des Princes last month, with two of their former players scoring across the two legs in Kingsley Coman and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Christophe Galtier's position as head coach is now under pressure, with Paris chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi reportedly lining up a move for former manager Thomas Tuchel, and there could be more than a few players to follow.

READ: Messi and the five PSG stars who could leave this summer

Real Madrid hope that Kylian Mbappe is one of them, and their chances of signing the Frenchman have improved by virtue of his current employers getting knocked out.

Mbappe available sooner

"Kylian Mbappe's contract at Paris Saint-Germain will be automatically extended by a further year if the club win the Champions League," report the Mirror.

Mbappe to Real Madrid was all but a done deal last year, with los Blancos reportedly having already made plans for his unveiling at the Santiago Bernabeu.

READ: Mbappe faces Real Madrid question after breaking PSG scoring record

But the French World Cup winner U-turned, signing a two-year contract extension which made him the best paid player of all time before Cristiano Ronaldo's €200 million a year move to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

But it turns out only one of those years was obligatory.

The striker penned a new deal at the Parc des Princes last May through to the summer of 2024," the report continyed. "Although the final year of that deal is an optional renewal on the player's behalf."

A Champions League win would have automatically bolted Mbappe down to PSG until the summer of 2025. Now, he can walk away a year earlier, although he said recently his future wasn't linked to European glory.

"If I linked my future to the Champions League, and I don't want to disrespect the club, I would have gone very far!" he said. "I'm here and I am very happy, and for the moment I'm not thinking about anything other than making PSG happy."

But there is no escaping the fact that Paris' Champions League exit has made Mbappe eminently more affordable at a sooner date for Madrid.