Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe has made a faster-than-expected return to training ahead of the round of 16 Champions League first-leg home tie with Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
 
After Mbappe suffered a thigh injury against Montpellier on February 1, the club said he would be out for three weeks. On Saturday, coach Christophe Galtier said he did not think Mbappe would play on Tuesday. “I don’t think so. He follows his rehabilitation protocol. He was a victim of a muscle injury,” Galtier said. “We will take zero, zero, zero risk with Kylian.” But Mbappe trained on Sunday and on Monday was seen in the part of training which is open to the media, participating in an exercise with Lionel Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Verratti, Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos.

Pressure on coach Galtier

As PSG face a stern Bayern test, the pressure is firmly on coach Christophe Galtier, given that these big European matches are what define every season for PSG in the Qatar era and their worrying habit of imploding on such occasions. Galtier’s brief is to do what all his predecessors—most recently Mauricio Pochettino—have failed to do and win the Champions League after PSG persuaded Mbappe to sign a new contract and stay in the French capital last year rather than join Real Madrid.