Mbappe and PSG aim to seize moment in Champions League semi-final

Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward #07 Kylian Mbappe (R) celebrates after Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward #10 Ousmane Dembele (C) scored an equalizer during the UEFA Champions League quarter final first leg football match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and FC Barcelona at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on April 10, 2024. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP)

Paris Saint-Germain are bidding to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit and beat Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League semi-final return match on Tuesday, with the aim of bringing the curtain down on the Kylian Mbappe era at the club in the final at Wembley.

The only time PSG have previously appeared in the biggest match in club football turned out to be a depressingly flat occasion, with the French side losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich behind closed doors in Lisbon in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

Reaching the June 1 showpiece in London, and playing before a crowd of 90,000 against either Real Madrid or Bayern again, would be a different occasion entirely.

Getting there would give Mbappe the chance to end his seven-year stay with the Qatar-owned outfit in the best possible way, as they look to win the Champions League for the first time in their history, and just the second time for a French club after Marseille in 1993.

Mbappe informed PSG in February of his intention to depart the Parc des Princes when his contract expires at the end of the season, ending a prolific association with his hometown team which began when he signed from Monaco in 2017.

Now 25 and the captain of France, Mbappe has become the Parisians’ all-time top scorer with 255 goals in 305 appearances so far, including 43 this season alone.

He has 48 in the Champions League — a tally which