Enrique ‘not happy’ with Mbappé despite hat trick

Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique said he was “not very happy” with Kylian Mbappé, despite the France forward scoring a hat trick to send his team top of Ligue 1 with a 3-0 win at Reims on Saturday.

The visitors did not take long to break the deadlock when Ousmane Dembélé accelerated down the right flank and delivered a superb cross to the far post. Mbappé volleyed the ball from inside the box to fire a right-footed shot past Reims goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf into the opposite corner after just two minutes.

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That was Mbappé’s 11th goal in the French league this season, and Dembélé’s fourth assist. Mbappé would later bring his season’s tally to 13, having played in just 11 matches.

But PSG coach Enrique wasn’t satisfied.

“I am not very happy with Kylian today,” he told Amazon Prime. “Why? Because managers are so strange. About goals, I have nothing to say, I have no complaints. But I think he can help the team a lot in a different way because he’s so important.

“I am going to tell him first, and after that I will never tell you because it’s not public. We think Kylian is one of the top players in the world, no doubt about that, but we need more and we want him doing more things, that’s my opinion.”

PSG, who lost to AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, were second best for long spells in the Champagne city but were opportunistic and clinical in converting their chances.

Against the run of play, Mbappé doubled his team’s lead in the 59th minute at the conclusion of a move started by Dembélé, who picked up Spain‘s Carlos Soler to set up an easy finish for Mbappé.

Reims were punished on the break one last time when Mbappé was picked out in the box by Bradley Barcola and took his time to conclude the move with his right foot in the 82nd minute.

Mbappé came close to adding a fourth goal with a powerful strike from the edge of the box that crashed onto the bar.

Asked about his own performance, Mbappe told Amazon Prime: “In all modesty I don’t need to be playing well to score goals, but I want to do both, score goals and play well. That is my objective, to always help the team as well as I can.”

The fifth straight league win moved PSG one point above Nice, with Reims in fourth place, seven points off the pace.

Previous leaders Nice, the only team still unbeaten this season, were held to a 0-0 draw at midtable Montpellier on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.