Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe has broken his silence on his upcoming reunion with Lionel Messi at the Parc des Princes after Argentina broke France's hearts in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final.
Mbappe made his official return to club football on Wednesday, scoring a 96th-minute penalty to give PSG a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Strasbourg.
Read: Klopp makes big Messi confession
That strike will have put a smile on his face after a difficult couple of weeks following France's defeat to the Albiceleste in the final of the global showpiece, with there even being rumours of a rift forming between himself and Argentina captain Messi, but he has now revealed that he is looking forward to having his teammate, who is understood to still be enjoying some downtime in his native country, back at the club.
"We will wait for Leo to come back to continue scoring and winning games," he said after Les Parisiens' latest Ligue 1 win, according to Goal.
"I spoke with him after the final, I congratulated him.
"It was the quest of a lifetime for him, for me too, but I failed, so you always have to be a good sport."
The 24-year-old also insisted that he does not care about the ill-intended celebrations made by some of the Albiceleste's players after their World Cup triumph, most notably goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
"Celebrations are not my problem," Mbappe added.
"Don't waste energy on such futile things, the important thing for me is to give the best of myself for my club."
Read: Haaland: The World Cup triggered me
With reassurances coming from Mbappe and his boss Christophe Galtier that Martinez's antics will not affect the forward's relationship with Messi, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has revealed he will speak to his No. 1 about his recent controversial behaviour, which has seen him being labelled by some as one of the most disrespectful players in the game.
"I want to speak with him when he will come here next week but I am thinking more about his performance and his win, than his celebration," the Spanish coach said, according to the Daily Mail.
"I prefer to be focused on how he performed and how he is going to win with us afterwards.
"I am going to speak with him because I want to control him about that as well – his emotions.
"We have to have values, we have to focus on behaviour when we are together and with the opposition players.
"We can speak in 90% of the cases about very good things, and be very proud of him, for his performance, for his win.
"It is about more than small details like celebrations."
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.
WATCH: MBAPPE ADMITS HE WON'T GET OVER WORLD CUP HEARTBREAK