Kylian Mbappe’s nightmare week continues as fans protest him in humiliating blow

Kylian Mbappe has not just been knocked out of the Champions League – but now he’s out of Ligue 2 as well.

The Real Madrid megastar was sent packing by Arsenal at the quarter-final stage in Europe, and now the SM Caen side that he co-owns are out of France’s professional leagues.

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On Friday night, Caen fell 3-0 at home to Martigues, making their relegation to the semi-pro National 1 third-tier official.

It’s the first time the Normandy side have been out of France’s top two professional leagues since 1984, and they confirmed their descent with three games still left to play.

With the worst defensive record in the division, Caen won just five times all season and deservedly went down.

Their co-owner Mbappe has to take some of the blame, though, according to fans.

A banner was unfurled by the ultras at full-time which read: “Management, players: all guilty, all out.”

Another read: “Malherbe is us, the s*** is you,” referring to the team’s full name, Stade Malherbe Caen.

This is far from the first time fans have blamed Mbappe for the team’s struggles since his family’s company, Interconnected Ventures, bought a controlling 80 per cent stake in the team in September 2024.

The team had a disastrously unorganised summer transfer window which was criticised by agents and players, including club captain Romain Thomas.

“It was the first time I’d experienced an off-season like that,” he said before the season opener. 

“There was this slightly heavy atmosphere every day in the locker room. Each player wasn’t reassured about their personal situation. Everyone was thinking about themselves at one point.”

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Such a poor showing inevitably led to poor results, and once it became clear that relegation was a possibility, fans turned on their absent owner.

Numerous different banners were unfurled before and after the turn of the new year, with one predominant message reading, ‘Mbappe, SMC is not your toy’ and another said ‘Before wanting to shine internationally, respect the local figures’.

With the Mbappes still absent, things got even more strange in January when the club president they installed, Ziad Hammoud, said in an interview that the project would begin for the 2025/26 season, which will now be in the third tier.

Later, in February, Mbappe finally found time in his busy schedule to visit the club’s training ground after scoring a hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League.

Yet in Caen he was met with more abuse, with banners outside the stadium which read: ‘Hammoud resign. Where are you??’ and ‘Fayza [Lamari, Mbappe’s mother and agent], the rednecks [club nickname] are in deep s***.’

In fact, it’s not just the fans either, with captain and top scorer Alexandre Mendy even alluding to poor management ahead of the run-in.

“It’s a reflection of our season,” he said after a 4-2 defeat to Paris FC at the start of April. 

“I’m speaking for myself, but when you start a new season with the wrong energy, everyone knows what happened during this transfer window for several players, this is what it looks like today. 

“We’ll fight until the end, but we only reap what we sow.”