Kylian Mbappe decided to stay at Paris Saint-Germain due to the club's "project" and rejected a more lucrative offer from Real Madrid, according to the Parisians' president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Al-Khelaifi also hit out at suggestions Mbappe possesses undue influence in footballing decisions at the club in an explosive interview with Marca, as well as labelling La Liga "dead" and claiming to never have heard of the league's president Javier Tebas.
Mbappe was widely expected to join Madrid upon the expiry of his contract in Paris this month, but committed his future to PSG until 2025 in a shock decision in May.
That decision sparked fury in Spain, with Madrid president Florentino Perez claiming the striker "must already be sorry" for snubbing the European champions, and LaLiga chief Tebas accusing the French club of trying to "destroy" European football in a complaint to UEFA over supposed financial fair play breaches.
But Al-Khelaifi says Mbappe's choice was never about money, and even claims to have known the 2018 World Cup winner wanted to stay long before the end of last season.
"I have great respect for Real Madrid as a club, they're a great club, but Kylian has never decided to renew for the money, that's the first thing. Madrid's offer was better than ours," he said.
"He is our player and he had other clubs in England as well as Madrid, but he chose PSG, and we didn't talk to him or his family about money until the last moment.
"Kylian was above all interested in the project, in football and sport. He is Parisian, he is French, and he wanted to stay here to represent his city and his country, his club, and it is not fair what has been said about him."
The PSG chief rejected huge bids for the striker before last season and says he did so in the knowledge he would decide to renew: "I knew 18 months ago that Mbappe wanted to stay. I heard that Madrid said he wanted to play for Madrid, but it wasn't true.
"We are talking now about Madrid's latest offer, but in the summer [of 2021] they made an offer of €170million and 180million. That means that Madrid's offer, plus his salary, was already better than ours, as it is now.
"I turned down 180 and they told me I was crazy, people I trusted, because he could leave for free, but I did it because I was sure Kylian was going to stay because I know him and his family well. I know what he wants.
"Kylian is very serious, professional, and he wants to play and win, he doesn't care about money. I understand that Madrid are disappointed, but it's not fair to say that about Mbappe."
LaLiga have complained about the spending of both Manchester City and PSG to UEFA, claiming a need to keep European competition "clean".
But Al-Khelaifi is not worried about accusations of overspending, as he labelled the Spanish top flight "dead" and said last year's signing of Lionel Messi demonstrated PSG's ability to invest and stay within the rules.
"Who is Tebas? I don't know that person," he claimed. "Our style is not to interfere in the affairs of other clubs, other leagues or federations, it is not our style. But I am not going to accept that others give us lessons.
"I don't care what he says, the truth is, we have been talking about this for years. We have a football project to build, and we are going to go ahead. We're not worried about everything that comes out in the media, because we can't waste our time with everything that comes out.
"Every year, every summer, it's the same thing. He says we don't respect the fair play, we don't respect the others? We know what we can do, who we can sign, we know better than him what we can do and nobody has to tell us what to do.
"We don't have to be told by someone from outside what we can or cannot do. If we do it, it's because we can. Look at the case of Messi. It was the same, they said it was financially impossible, and we have made money with Messi.
"He has no idea and he should focus on his league because La Liga is a bit dead."
Al-Khelaifi, who also serves as chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), could not resist taking another swipe at Madrid over their continued support for the European Super League, which failed spectacularly upon its attempted launch last year.
Madrid, along with Barcelona and Juventus, are still committed to the breakaway project, and Al-Khelaifi says their jubilation at winning the Champions League last month is strange in that context.
"For me it [the Super League] is already dead," he said. "But it's also strange. Madrid have won the Champions League and deservedly so, but on the one hand they want to win it and on the other hand they don't want to play it.
"If you're not happy you don't need to play it. It's the best competition in the world and I don't even know why the Spanish fans are also against this competition, but for me the Super League is dead."
Joao Felix sinks parent club Atletico Madrid as Barcelona move third
Joao Felix undid his parent club as a first-half finish from the Portugal international earned Barcelona a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium.
Felix lifted the ball over goalkeeper Jan Oblak in deft fashion in the 28th minute as Xavi’s men replaced Atletico in third in the LaLiga table, with a four-point gap to leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Girona
Sevilla were held 1-1 at home by Villarreal, Hector Bellerin was shown a red card in the 27th minute of Real Betis’ goalless draw at Almeria, and Mallorca and Alaves also drew a blank.
Kylian Mbappe inspired 10-man Paris St Germain to a 2-0 victory over Le Havre to send them four points clear of Nice at the top of Ligue 1.
PSG found themselves down to 10 men after just 10 minutes when goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was sent off for a high challenge on Josue Casimir.
The visitors went in front in the 23rd minute through Mbappe and while the hosts did their best to find an equaliser, Vitinha scored against the run of play in the 89th minute to seal three points.
Goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier saved two penalties as Lille claimed a 2-0 win at home to Metz. The 22-year-old denied Simon Elisor before two goals in first-half stoppage time from Yusuf Yazici and Jonathan David put Lille in control.
More heroics from Chevalier 10 minutes into the second half to keep out Lamine Camara’s penalty helped preserve victory for the home side.
Third-placed Monaco are two points behind Nice following a 2-0 win over 10-man Montpellier, who saw Boubakar Kouyate sent off in the second half, while Brest beat Clermont 3-0 and Toulouse played out a 1-1 draw with Lorient.
Both sides were reduced to 10 as Marseille beat Rennes 2-0 at home, Christopher Wooh being dismissed for the visitors just past the hour mark and Iliman Ndiaye going soon after.
Marseille’s goals came via an early Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty and Azzedine Ounahi effort between the red cards.
Inter Milan moved back above Juventus to the top of Serie A with a 3-0 win at defending champions Napoli, with Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolo Barella and Marcus Thuram on the scoresheet.
Rasmus Kristensen scored the winner for Roma as they came from behind to beat Sassuolo 2-1.
Matheus Henrique fired in a first-half opener for Sassuolo, but it all came undone after the break when Daniel Boloca was dismissed and Paulo Dybala scored from the spot, before Kristensen fired home a second.
A Lucas Beltran spot-kick and further goals from Riccardo Sottil and Giacomo Bonaventura earned Fiorentina a 3-0 victory over Salernitana, while Udinese and Verona drew 3-3.
Bologna looked poised for victory at Lecce but had to settle for a point after Roberto Piccoli’s penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time cancelled out Charalampos Lykogiannis’ 68th-minute opener.
In the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund were on course to leapfrog fourth-placed Leipzig with a vital victory at leaders Bayer Leverkusen after Julian Ryerson fired the visitors ahead after five minutes, but Victor Boniface salvaged a point when he levelled late in the second half.
Elsewhere, Augsburg beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 and Freiburg won 1-0 at Mainz.
England likely to be without star names in Euro 2024 build-up – Gareth Southgate
England manager Gareth Southgate is gearing up to be without a number of star names in his Euro 2024 build-up.
The 23-man squad is likely to include players who will feature in the Champions League final on June 1 at Wembley, just 15 days before their Group C opener against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.
Southgate faced a similar difficulty before the inaugural Nations League finals in 2019, when seven players arrived late after Liverpool beat Tottenham in the Champions League final.
There were similar headaches ahead of the last Euros as Chelsea and Manchester City contested the 2021 Champions League final, but Southgate insisted it was just an occupational hazard he would have to cope with.
“You would love to have all of the players for all of the preparation camps, but that’s not our reality,” Southgate said.
“We’ve dealt with that in the past, so we know what it needs to look like.
“It’s important they get some sort of psychological break in between but, of course, the longer they play, the less you can give them is the reality.
“What we’ve got to do now is, now we know the draw, look at the opponents for those (warm-up) games again a bit more clearly.”
England have already confirmed March warm-up friendlies against Brazil and Belgium at Wembley.
The Euro 2020 runners-up are understood to be planning two further friendlies on home soil against as yet unspecified opposition.
Callum McGregor excited at chance to open Euro 2024 against hosts Germany
Scotland midfielder Callum McGregor is relishing the prospect of opening Euro 2024 against the hosts.
Steve Clarke’s side will kick off the tournament on June 14 against Germany at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Scotland will also take on Hungary and Switzerland in Group A following Saturday’s draw in Hamburg.
McGregor said: “It was great watching the draw. We have three really good teams and it’s a strong group.
“When you get to a tournament that’s what you want to do, you want to be against the best teams and that’s what we’ll do in the opening game against Germany.
“It doesn’t come much bigger than that as an occasion and everyone is looking forward to it.”
Scotland opened the 1998 World Cup with a 2-1 defeat by Brazil at the Stade de France in their most recent major tournament on foreign soil.
Celtic captain McGregor said: “I don’t remember the 1998 game as such but I have heard people talking about it.
“It’s going to be such a brilliant occasion opening the whole tournament.”
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