KYLIAN MBAPPE wasn’t at St James’ Park when Eddie Howe and Kieran Trippier sat down to conduct their Champions League press conferences yesterday tea-time. It didn’t matter. Twenty-two players will take to the field when Newcastle United host Paris St Germain this evening, but only one can justifiably claim to be the world’s best. Mbappe didn’t have to be present to dominate proceedings.

Howe was asked about him. Trippier was asked about him. The French journalists present barely even bothered to listen to either because they were too busy setting up their cameras and phones to get a glimpse of Paris St Germain’s number seven in the 15 minutes of open training that followed the press conferences.

Newcastle’s mantra, repeated by both Howe and Trippier, is that it would be wrong to focus on one player when PSG can also call on the likes of Lucas Hernandez, Achraf Hakimi, Marco Asensio and Ousmane Dembele.

It is a valid standpoint, but it was impossible to maintain it for very long. As Trippier was forced to admit, Mbappe’s name has been on the lips of most of Tyneside’s residents ever since the draw for the Champions League was made. And that even includes the inhabitants of the Newcastle full-back’s home.

“I was having a bit of banter with my son last night, and he said he wanted to walk out with Mbappe instead of me,” laughed Trippier. “I wasn’t really happy with that. He’s obsessed with him, always watching his clips on YouTube. I said to him, ‘If you get to walk out with Mbappe, then you don’t look at me in the tunnel!”

While it was Trippier’s shirt that was illuminated in the Tyneside sky on Monday evening as Newcastle’s sponsors, Sela, put on a drone display to celebrate the club’s return to the Champions League stage after a 20-year absence, the defender’s son, Jacob, is not the only one to have Mbappe’s name on his lips.

It is his father, though, that will be charged with the task of stopping the French forward this evening, with Mbappe tending to play off the left-hand side before bursting inside towards the 18-yard box.

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It is a task he has wrestled with before, admittedly at a much more formative stage of Mbappe’s career, and one that he relishes rather than fears. Yes, Mbappe is a generational talent, but Trippier, a Champions League finalist with Tottenham and seasoned international with England, is more than happy to test himself against the best.

“I’ve played against him (Mbappe) on what I think was his debut game for Monaco,” said Trippier. “It was when I was at Tottenham. And then I played against him again when I made my debut for England. That’s quite a few years ago now.

“He’s a fantastic player, but you want to play against the best players in the world on what will be a great occasion for everybody associated with the club. He’s certainly one of the best players in the world – in the past few years, he’s been incredible - but as we do in every single game, whether it’s Burnley, Paris St Germain or West Ham, we prepare for how we can win the game and hurt the opposition. That doesn’t change just because it’s a Champions League game. You’ve got to respect your opposition, but we always try to find a way to win.”

After starting for Newcastle in their opening group game against AC Milan at the San Siro, Trippier has now represented three different clubs on the Champions League stage. At Tottenham, he made the final. At Atletico Madrid, he was part of a club that have established a strong pedigree in Europe’s premier club competition in the last decade or so under Diego Simeone.

When he joined Newcastle just under two years ago, he could have been forgiven for assuming his Champions League days were over given that the Magpies were battling for their Premier League lives close to the foot of the table. Did he really think a return to Europe’s top table was a realistic possibility?

“When I first signed, my thought process was my family,” he said. “I’ve explained that many times. But when I look back, it’s with huge pride at the big steps we’ve taken in a short space of time. No one would have thought that we would have been back in the Champions League so quickly, but I think we’ve earned the right to be in the position that we’re in.”

This evening, that position sees him lining up against Mbappe. Will he be seeking out the forward for a shirt swap at the end of the game?

“It’s Mbappe, and everyone’s going to be wanting his shirt,” he said. “That’s normal. But me? I want the three points instead.”