When Kylian Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain in June 2024 to join Real Madrid, it was supposed to be the beginning of his European conquest. After years of chasing the Champions League with PSG, he believed that Madrid—Europe’s most decorated club and 15-time winners of the tournament—would offer the success he craved. But fate and football had other plans. Well, recently, PSG went on to win their first-ever Champions League title without him in May 2025, hammering Inter Milan 5–0 in the final. But that’s not all! Another brutal heartbreak for Mbappe was still to come.

Just weeks later, on July 9, PSG delivered another blow, this time directly to Kylian Mbappe, by thrashing his new team Real Madrid 4–0 in the FIFA Club World Cup semifinal at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey. Mbappe, just recovered from a gastroenteritis-related hospitalization, looked muted and ineffective against his former club’s high-octane pressing machine. And now, seeing this, the football world was quick to react, but no response summed up the moment better than ESPN. But what exactly did ESPN say that got the internet talking?

ESPN shared a viral post on X: “Kylian Mbappé left PSG and the Parisian side went on to win the Champions League and have now just eliminated Mbappé’s Real Madrid from the Club World Cup 🙃 Life comes at you fast.” That hurts! But did capture the reversal of fortune in just a few words. In the semi-final, PSG’s power, led by Ousmane Dembele, Fabian Ruiz, and Goncalo Ramos, overwhelmed Madrid. Still, the most striking contrast wasn’t just tactical, it was personal.

The Parisians scored three goals in the first 24 minutes, exploiting defensive lapses by Antonio Rudiger and Raúl Asencio, and finished the rout with a late fourth. Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe, once the centerpiece of PSG, found himself eclipsed by a team that had grown stronger without him.

Luis Enrique’s side looked reborn and hungry, no longer reliant on individual success but on unified dominance. And while that’s harsh enough on the pitch, Mbappe’s drama with PSG off the pitch is far from over.

Kylian Mbappe’s legal fight against PSG

When Kylian Mbappe announced his departure from PSG in June 2024, tensions had already begun brewing. After refusing a one-year contract extension, he was excluded from PSG’s preseason tour of Asia and relegated to training with fringe players, acts he later described as “lofting,” aka deliberately isolating players from the rest of the group as a punitive action.

This treatment, he claimed, amounted to moral harassment, prompting him to file a criminal complaint in spring 2025. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed they had opened an investigation, as the France captain went public with allegations that PSG had benchmarked him to pressure for a contract extension.

The situation escalated when Mbappe’s legal team launched a civil claim in April 2025, demanding €55 million in unpaid wages and bonuses. Their aggressive move included the freezing of PSG’s bank accounts to that sum, backed by lawyer Thomas Clay: “We have protectively seized the accounts of PSG, to the tune of 55 million euros.” PSG pushed back, stating Mbappe had verbally agreed to forgo the payments, and insisted the matter be resolved through the labour tribunal, not via account seizure, and claimed they sought an “amicable resolution” .

By July 7, 2025, just before facing PSG in the Club World Cup semi‑final, Kylian Mbappe withdrew his moral harassment complaint, a move framed as a gesture of de‑escalation and reconciliation. According to his lawyer, Pierre‑Olivier Sur: “We are withdrawing our civil action … to calm the legal situation and concentrate exclusively on sport.” 

However, the €55 million wage dispute remains unresolved, still headed to France’s Labour Court. In response, PSG president Nasser Al‑Khelaifi and coach Luis Enrique have emphasized a new era of team-first values, showing that Mbappe now finds himself on the outside, watching as his former club thrives, while his legal battle continues.