By Max Tijero, Year 12
Kylian Mbappé: the young teenager that lit Europe alight in 2017 with a brilliant Monaco team, the 19 year old who blew the world away in the 2018 World cup earning France their second star. The man who scored a hat trick in a World Cup final, and still lost. Kylian Mbappe is arguably the most famous football player right now. He is known for his pace, finishing and excellent winning mentality.
Kylian Mbappe has been a known Real Madrid fan since he was young. He has pictures with Real Madrid posters all over his room. His idol is Cristiano Ronaldo. This summer, his dream became true, and he signed for the greatest club of all time, Real Madrid. All eyes were on him, since this transfer saga had been going on for almost 6 years. Real Madrid love Mbappe, and Mbappe loves Real Madrid.
Unfortunately, this season has not started as the french superstar would’ve liked it.
While he has scored a good amount of goals, he has looked slow and clumsy in front of goal. His lowest point was in his recent match against Liverpool, doing almost everything wrong and topping it off with a missed penalty. Mbappe was a trending topic on social media, but not for good reasons. When the expectations are so big, people will put the blame on you, and will criticise you as often as possible.
It is undeniable that Mbappe has been nowhere near his usual level. However the numbers that he has been putting up are not all bad, scoring 8 goals in this LaLiga season so far. He has shown sparks of brilliance, with his brilliant goal from outside the box against Celta de Vigo, or his brilliant finish against Getafe this weekend. However one cannot deny, that mostly in big games, Mbappé has not been present.
He started off as a striker which is a position he is known to not be comfortable in. Now, Ancelotti has moved him to the left wing, and shifted Vinicius on the inside which will hopefully work better for both Mbappe and Vinicius.
We must not forget that Real Madrid has a team filled with superstars, such as Dani Carvajal, Fede Valverde, Luka Modric, Lucas Vazquez, Eduardo Camavinga, Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler, Rodrygo, Endrick, Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe himself. They all want to shine, and they all can. Ancelotti still needs to find the right formation and the missing piece to this puzzle.
Everyone expected Real Madrid to shine, with their new attacker, but it has not been the case. The absence of Toni Kroos, being shaky in defense, and Mbappe not being up to speed, have all proved to be a problem. However, the entirety of Real Madrid supports Mbappe, whether it’s the staff, the players or most importantly, the fans. This weekend, despite missing many chances, Mbappe was applauded by the fans instead of being booed. Clearly, the supporters back him and want him to do well. There is no doubt that Kylian Mbappe will regain confidence and be back to his best level, guiding Real Madrid right back to the top.
