MANCHESTER — Soccer fans are buzzing about a Women's World Cup ad featuring French stars Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann - or so it seems at first.
In Telecom company Orange's campaign aimed at challenging people's perceptions of women's soccer, the two-minute ad appears to show a display of magical soccer skills from diving headers to curling free kicks by Mbappe, Griezmann and others.
Then comes the twist.
While setting their expectations for the 2023-24 season or trying to define what's next in their careers, players of the most relevant leagues in Europe are squeezing out their last days of vacation before returning to reality.
With family or friends, beach towns around the world seem to have been the favorite destination among them, and here we give you a glimpse of their holidays.
The Argentine star already landed on U.S. soil to be presented as Inter Miami's new face.
Kylian Mbappe has told Paris Saint-Germain he will not take up the option of a one-year extension in his contract when it expires next June, L'Equipe reported, with the France forward adding that the club had been notified of his decision last year.
Mbappe, a World Cup winner in 2018, confirmed his decision in a letter to the club and could even be sold this summer as PSG will seek to avoid losing him for free, according to the local reports.
PSG welcomed mid-table Lorient to the Parc des Princes on Sunday and slumped to a 3-1 defeat after Achraf Hakimi was sent off in the 20th-minute for a studs-up tackle on Darlin Yongwa that earned him a second yellow.
The massive spotlight on Paris Saint-Germain from earlier this season has flickered and remains on a dim setting. PSG are out of the Champions League, eliminated from the French Cup, lost Neymar for the rest of the season and have a relatively comfortable lead in Ligue 1.
There aren’t any big matches left on the schedule for the Paris club with just a handful of league matches against midtable or lower Ligue 1 sides. A sobering end to a season with so many expectations.
On Friday PSG defeated bottom of the table Angers 2-1 courtesy of a Kylian Mbappé brace.
PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé has been named France captain to succeed Hugo Lloris, the French football federation (FFF) said on Monday.
French sports daily L'Equipe reported that Mbappé had accepted the captaincy after speaking with coach Didier Deschamps.
Kylian Mbappé is the new captain of the French national team, reports @lequipe pic.twitter.com/31NSzzsLTk
Talking points from the weekend in European soccer leagues:
BARCELONA TAKE HUGE STEP TOWARDS LALIGA TITLE
Barcelona have tightened their grip at the top of the LaLiga standings after an electric 2-1 comeback win in an El Clásico against bitter rivals Real Madrid on Sunday.
Franck Kessié's stunner in added time gave Barça a well-earned victory that left second-placed Real trailing the leaders by 12 points with only 12 games to be played.
After disappointingly crashing out of the UEFA Champions League earlier in the week, PSG bounced back to defeat a feisty Brest side 2-1 on Saturday.
PSG left it late as Lionel Messi found Kylian Mbappé with a perfect pass in the 90th minute to snatch the victory.
This was the 300th assist in Messi’s club career and boy was it a beauty.
¡MBAPPÉ SALVA AL PSG!
El capitán y máximo goleador en la historia del equipo le da el triunfo en el 90+2'
For the second consecutive season, a Paris Saint-Germain club entirely hellbent and solely existing for Champions League glory has failed to advance beyond the competition's last 16.
PSG now faces over six months of deep contemplation before the start of the 2023-24 UCL group stage, and although they'll rue Vitinha's inability to score on an open net/Marco Verratti carrying on the club's tradition of having the softest midfielders in the game, those failures should only emphasize how the entire squad needs investment.
I've been there. Trying to silence a bunch of raucous kids in a classroom is a Herculean task. However, a teacher in Argentina might have found a perfect method to achieve it. And she was generous enough to share her secret with other colleagues on a TikTok video.
A hint? All she had to do was mention Lionel Messi.