Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has said the club’s pursuit of Kylian Mbappe has been “forgotten” after their 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris on Saturday.
Vinicius Junior’s 59th minute goal was enough to help Madrid to a record-equalling 14th European Cup — their eighth in the Champions League era and fifth in nine years — with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois making a number of spectacular saves from Liverpool forwards Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Madrid’s preparations for the final were overshadowed by their failure to land Mbappe after Paris Saint-Germain announced last week that the forward had agreed a three-year contract extension when he had been widely expected to join Madrid on a free transfer.
“Real Madrid will always keep working on having the best players,” Perez told Spanish TV outlet Movistar. “But Mbappe is forgotten now. It’s fine. Madrid had a perfect season. It’s a subject that’s forgotten.”
Mbappe, 23, had been Madrid’s long-term top transfer target and wanted to make the move last summer when Madrid had a series of bids worth up to €200 million ignored by PSG, before the forward opted to stay last week.
The France international’s snub has been a rare negative in a triumphant end to the season for Madrid — who also won LaLiga last month — and manager Carlo Ancelotti.
“[Ancelotti] has won four [Champions Leagues], two with Real Madrid and two with other clubs,” Perez said. “I think he’s a good director of the orchestra. He knows psychology, he knows the players, he knows the club well, and he knows football.”
Perez has now overseen six of Real Madrid’s 14 European Cup wins as president — in 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and now 2022.
Madrid led a remarkable journey to this season’s final. They were stunned at home to Sheriff Tiraspol as they topped Group D before eliminating PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City in the knockout stages, requiring a dramatic comeback on each occasion to turn the ties around.
“We’ve all fought and worked all season to be able to get to this situation,” Perez said. “We’ve had a good season in general, we celebrated the league title.
[In the Champions League] we had the luck, or bad luck, to face all the difficult teams, one after the other. It’s well deserved. We’ve seen some great games that we won’t forget easily.”
