By Victor Kanayo
A Nigerian celebrity and former Big Brother Naija housemate, Rebecca Nengi Hampson, has spoken of her admiration for Paris Saint-Germain forward, Kylian Mbappe.
After seeing a photoshopped picture of the reality star and the World Cup winner, Nengi acknowledged Mbappe as her boyfriend.
Her profession is happening a day after a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain shockingly lost to a less-fancied Ligue 1 side Rennes in a league match.
It was an encounter which featured 2022 World Cup winner – Lionel Messi, with Mbappe making his return from a post-World Cup holiday.
This was the first time that Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar had appeared on the pitch together since PSG’s superstar attacking trio returned from the World Cup.
Rennes captain Hamari Traore scored the game’s only goal in the 65th minute in the rain in Brittany to condemn PSG to a second successive away league loss after they went down 3-1 at second-placed Lens on New Year’s Day.
Prior to that, they had gone unbeaten through their first 23 matches this season in all competitions and this latest setback gives their rivals hope in the title race.
Messi had been afforded an extended holiday after guiding Argentina to glory in Doha and scored on his return in a 2-0 win against Angers in midweek.
Mbappe, scorer of a hat-trick for France in the World Cup final as they lost on penalties to Argentina, had played in his club’s first two games after the tournament before missing their last two as he took a holiday in New York with teammate Achraf Hakimi.
He was expected to start on Sunday but instead began on the bench, as the 20-year-old Hugo Ekitike played in front of Messi and Neymar.
Without their leading scorer, PSG were blunt up front and Rennes goalkeeper Steve Mandanda did not have a save of note to make until he kept out a Danilo Pereira header three minutes into the second half.
Mbappe replaced Ekitike in the 56th minute and did so to applause from the home fans.
Rennes, who recently lost top scorer Martin Terrier for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury, has now won nine successive home league games.
They are fifth in the table, behind Monaco in fourth only on goals scored after the principality side crushed Ajaccio 7-1 earlier in the day.
Lens are PSG’s closest challengers after beating Auxerre 1-0 on Saturday for their 10th consecutive home win.
Marseille are third, two points behind Lens and five clear of both Monaco and Rennes, after defeating Lorient 3-1 on Saturday.
