The NextGoalWinner POTM awards are back!

This month saw the return of club football after a hugely entertaining month of international competition, and as a result so does the NextGoalWinner awards for both the Premier League performance, and across Europe’s top 5 leagues. This month is also a special, as due to the half-month of November and also December, we have extended the award across both months, meaning this months recipient can technically be classed as a double winner.

November/December’s winner had an almost perfect Christmas period, as he not only played exceptionally for his club, but also came minutes away from winning back to back World Cup titles at just 24 years of age. With a hattrick in the final, Kylian Mbappe did just about all he could to get France over the line, but with the penalty shootout lottery (although I hate that term), it wasn’t to be (although I think he may be back for more in 2026). With 3 goals and 1 assist for PSG in the 4 games played between November-December, plus of course his added 8 goals and 2 assists in the World Cup tournament, he is a deserved winner of this award for this ‘double month’.

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Match By Match

November 2nd: Juventus 1-2 PSG – Kicking things off in this strange period in football due to the World Cup break, PSG finished their Champions League group campaign with a win over Juventus. With their qualification already guaranteed, the group came down to PSG and Benfica battling it out for top spot down to goal difference. It was Benfica who ended up in first after this game, however it was an assured performance for PSG despite failing to edge into top spot. Mbappe needed just 13 minutes to open the scoring, and then midway through the second half he turned provider for Mendes who secured the win. It was a player of the match performance from Mbappe, as he was involved in both PSG goals, created the most chances (3), completed the most dribbles (4) and won the most duels (6). With a 8.8/10 FotMob rating, he set himself up perfectly for this period of football when all eyes were on PSG’s two forwards.

November 6th: Lorient 1-2 PSG – This second fixture was Mbappe’s lowest rated performance of this entire period including the World Cup. Although his side won again, he wasn’t involved in the goals, and had a fairly average game by his own high standards. With 100% shot accuracy he was involved in the final third, but couldn’t find the back of the net or provide an assist in this one.

November 13th: PSG 5-0 Auxerre – PSG went into the World Cup in style, hammering a poor Auxerre side. With their Mbappe-Messi-Neymar trio linking up just before they depart to represent their countries at the tournament, it was Mbappe who made the strongest impact of the 3 on this game. With his goal inside 11 minutes, things were comfortable from the outset, and with his 100% shot accuracy, 91% pass accuracy and 100% cross accuracy, he earned a respectable 8.1/10 FotMob rating.

December 28th: PSG 2-1 Strasbourg – After a huge World Cup campaign for France, Mbappe and the PSG duo of France’s star and teammate Leo Messi, in their return from the World Cup break, PSG got things back on track in the league with a 96th minute penalty winner from the man himself. Mbappe remained calm and collected as he tucked away the winner with the last kick, despite losing Neymar for a second yellow midway through the second half. Mbappe claimed yet another player of the match award for his performance, after winning and scoring the last minute penalty, along with 100% shot accuracy from his 5 shots, and an individual xG of 1.33, he achieved an 8.6/10 FotMob rating for his efforts, and cemented a terrific period of his career, despite not quite getting the trophy her arguably deserved.