Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique demanded Kylian Mbappe to emulate one of his sporting heroes in a fiery motivational talk.
The footage shows Enrique plotting how his side could overcome a 3-2 deficit to Barcelona, who he managed from 2014 to 2017, in their Champions League quarter-final tie last season.
Mbappe received a motivational talk from Enrique ahead of PSG’s quarter final tie against BarcelonaGetty
A key element of his plan involved superstar forward Mbappe, who failed to score in the first leg.
Enrique felt Mbappe, one of the leaders of his team, needed to offer more defensively and told him as much in a one-on-one conversation.
Although Enrique’s words carry weight, he felt using one of Mbappe’s childhood icons would flick a switch within the French speedster.
The conversation is shown in the latest episode of ‘No teneis ni **** idea’, a documentary that captured behind-the-scenes footage of Enrique in his first season at PSG.
“I read that you like Michael Jordan,” Enrique told Mbappe.
“Michael Jordan used to grab all his teammates by the balls and defend like a son of a b****.
“You have to set an example, first as a person and as a player, to go.”
Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, was renowned for his offensive prowess during his playing career.
But the six-time NBA champion was equally adept at the other end of the court having been named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 and was a nine-time All-Defensive First Team selection.
Enrique then delved into how Mbappe would lead his team defensively from the front, which required the World Cup winner to occupy two players at once.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan is one of Mbappe’s childhood heroesGetty
“You’re going to have (Pau) Cubarsi, you’re going to mark him,” Enrique said.
“You’re going to mark him and (Marc-Andre) Ter Stegen. You’re going to spend the whole game pressing Cubarsi to stop him going forward and Ter Stegen to play quickly. And then, coming back quickly.
“What for? To be a leader.”
The second leg of the quarter final started poorly when Raphinha scored for Barcelona in the 12th minute to put the hosts up 4-2 on aggregate.
However, the contest was turned on its head in the 29th minute when Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo was sent off.
PSG quickly found their rhythm and scored four goals – Mbappe contributed two – as they won 4-1 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate to progress to the semi finals.
Another key element of Enrique’s talk with Mbappe was how he wanted the superstar to leave Paris with his head held high.
Although it had not been officially announced, Enrique and PSG’s key figures knew Mbappe would be off to Real Madrid in the summer.
Mbappe scored twice as PSG came back to eliminate Barcelona from the Champions LeagueGetty
It’s why Enrique implored Mbappe to squeeze the lemon on his leadership and playing qualities to push his side past Barcelona.
“This is what I want you to do as a leader for the two months you have left,” Enrique said.
“I want you to leave here through the big door, Kiky. There is no doubt about it. But you have to earn it. And not attacking, I know you are God when attacking, there is no-one better than you, I know that.
“But the day you don’t attack you have to be the best player in history defending. That’s a leader, that’s Michael Jordan.”
Although Mbappe inspired PSG against Barcelona, he could not recreate the same magic in Le Parisiens’ Champions League semi final tie against Borussia Dortmund.
Mbappe ended his seven-year stay with PSG in the summer as he moved to Real MadridAFP
Dortmund beat PSG 1-0 across both legs to seal a spot in the final, where they lost 2-0 to Real Madrid.
Despite the Champions League disappointment, Mbappe ended his time in the French capital with two trophies as PSG won Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France.
He has since scored seven goals in ten games across all competitions for Real Madrid, one of which came in Los Blancos’ 2-0 win over Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup.
As for PSG, they sit top of Ligue 1 this season with five wins and one draw from six games but went down to a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday.
