Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique has slammed repeated "boring" questions about his controversial selections decisions relating to Kylian Mbappe.
Since telling the French champions that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season when his contract expires, Mbappe has been the victim of numerous early substitutions from Enrique.
Les Parisiens' all-time top scorer previously did not miss a single minute of Ligue 1 football from September 30 to February 2, playing the full 90 in 14 successive matches, but he has now completed the entire match in just one of PSG's last seven top-flight games.
That sole 90-minute appearance saw Mbappe net a hat-trick in a 6-2 crushing of Montpellier HSC before the international break, and he wore the captain's armband in Sunday's battle with Marseille in Le Classique, only to be withdrawn just after the hour mark.
The 25-year-old was noticeably peeved to see his number appear on the board again, and Enrique has previously stated that PSG must get used to playing without Mbappe, suggesting that the attacker's decision to leave the club is playing a significant part in his early withdrawals.
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Luis Enrique: 'I don't care if people disagree'
As expected, Enrique was pressed on his decision to take off the league's top scorer for the third time in five matches, having also sacrificed Mbappe at half time against former club Monaco and on the 65-minute mark against Rennes in February.
The ex-Barcelona boss subsequently benched Mbappe altogether for a 2-2 draw with Reims on March 10, where the World Cup winner only earned 17 minutes as a substitute, and he issued a spiky response to the familiar questions.
"People don't agree with my decision? I don't care. It's the same music every week, the same music... it's boring," Enrique told Amazon Prime Video. "I am the manager. I make decisions every week. I do my best for PSG, I will do this until my final day in Paris."
On that occasion, Enrique's bold call to take Mbappe off the field paid dividends, as his replacement Goncalo Ramos scored PSG's second in a 2-0 win over Marseille at the Orange Velodrome.
Vitinha had opened the scoring for the 10-man Parisiens, who had Lucas Beraldo sent off in the first half, to keep the champions 12 points clear of Brest at the top of the table with just seven games left to play.
🚨🇫🇷 Luis Enrique on Mbappé subbed off: "People don't agree with my decision? I don't care".
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 31, 2024
"It's the same music every week, the same music... it's boring".
"I am the manager. I make decisions every week".
"I do my best for PSG, I will do this until my final day in Paris". pic.twitter.com/Pglfc6PSov
Real Madrid-bound Mbappe enduring frustrating farewell
While Mbappe was not believed to have had an agreement in place with another club when he informed PSG of his decision to leave, he is now thought to have given long-term admirers Real Madrid his word over a summer transfer.
PSG may be saving an astronomical €200m (£171m) in yearly wages by severing ties with Mbappe, but the French champions will not receive a single penny for his exit, three years on from rejecting a nine-figure bid from Real and two years after fighting tooth and nail to tie him down to a new deal.
Whether Mbappe's familiar early withdrawals are 'punishment' for refusing to extend his contract only the Parc des Princes hierarchy knows, but the greatest goalscorer that PSG has ever seen has very quickly lost his indispensable status under Enrique.
The ex-Barcelona boss is evidently casting one eye to the future with an Mbappe-less PSG side, although one competition that the 25-year-old has not missed a minute in this season is the Champions League.
The former Monaco product is yet to fulfil his dream of lifting the coveted European crown with PSG, but Enrique will surely be loath to continue his theme of substituting - or indeed overlooking - the World Cup Golden Boot winner when Barcelona come calling in this month's quarter-finals.
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