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Kylian Mbappe out to set new PSG goalscoring record in Champions League

sportsmole.co.uk, 4 October 2022, 14:28
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe will be out to set a new club goalscoring record in the Champions League when the Ligue 1 champions battle Benfica in Wednesday's Group H clash.

Christophe Galtier's side have made a perfect start to life in the 2022-23 Champions League, recording successive victories over Juventus and Maccabi Haifa in their opening two games.

PSG sit comfortably atop the rankings in Group H with six points to their name, and victory at the Estadio da Luz would see the French champions put one foot firmly in the last-16 stage.

Mbappe already has three goals to boast from the 2022-23 Champions League, netting a brace against Juventus before making the net ripple once against Maccabi Haifa.

The 23-year-old now has a total of 30 Champions League goals under his belt for PSG, and one more would see him become the club's outright top scorer in the competition.

Edinson Cavani also racked up 30 Champions League strikes during his stint at the Parc des Princes, which Mbappe equalled with his goal against Maccabi Haifa on matchday two.

A slice of personal history could also be on the line for head coach Galtier, who is aiming to become only the third man in history to win all three of his opening Champions League games with PSG.

Luis Fernandez was the first coach to do so in the 1993-94 season, while Laurent Blanc also picked up a trio of consecutive wins in the tournament for PSG in the 2013-14 campaign.

PSG head into Wednesday's game having scraped past Nice 2-1 in the weekend's Ligue 1 encounter, which has kept Galtier's side two points clear of Marseille at the top of the table.

Mbappe and Lionel Messi both found the back of the net either side of Gaetan Laborde's equaliser, with the former coming off the bench to hit the winner after Hugo Ekitike was given the nod to start the contest.

Mbappe, Messi and Neymar have demonstrated a clinical on-field connection during the 2022-23 campaign, but there have been rumours of the Frenchman and Brazilian enduring a frosty relationship off the field.

However, Galtier has denied the existence of such a feud, telling the press: "When you have clear objectives, you make sure you have the necessary conditions in which to perform well. You talk about coexisting; I'm surprised I have to keep talking about the same things.

"Since I arrived, every day that goes by, everything that's gone on are normal things that happen in a dressing room. There's nothing that surprises me, nothing that challenges me. The players want to win together and are competing together.

"They are winners in terms of their competitiveness and their egos. We have a great dressing room. There's a discrepancy between the stories you hear and what you perceive. That's not what happens in the dressing room. They get on with each other."

Mbappe has already struck 11 goals in 10 outings for PSG this season, taking his total for the French champions to 182 goals and 88 assists in 227 appearances since joining from Monaco in 2017.

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