With one more match about the current Lalala season to play, Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid can end the campaign as the top scorer in the Spanish top flight, also known as the 'Pichichi' award, and Viktor Gyokeres could even overthrow the Race for the European Golden Boot.
The long-term move from the Frenchman from Paris Saint-Germain to the Spanish capital finally became a reality last summer, and with Los Blancos who was the ruling competition and Champions League holders at that time, the catch of Mbappe felt like a crucial moment.
Real Madrid Unveiling Kylian Mbappe during a presentation at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madridisabel Infantes / PA Images / Profimedia
A player who had scored goals consistently during his career would become the center of another all -conquering real side. Or so everyone thought.
Mbappe has certainly kept his side of the bargain in terms of scored goals. In Laliga alone, he played 29 of 33 games and 40 in all competitions of 54 games. That is Top-Tier goals in every language.
Mbappe's goals have not always led to success
In all four Clasico matches that were played in 2024/25, however, his goals and general play have not been enough to help his team even a single point against their eternal rivals.
Of course, the World Cup winner cannot only blame the shortcomings of the Carlo Ancelotti team; In some of the big competitions, however, he was expected to make a difference, but he did not do that.
Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring against Barcelonaipa, Independent Photo Agency / Alamy / Profimedia
He was unable to score in four of his first five Champions League matches against Lille, Dortmund, Milan and Liverpool, and apart from not scoring in the first competition Clasico against Barcelona – a real humiliation in the Santiago Bernabeu – he was caught several times in a disappointing performance.
A hat trick against Manchester City in the most important European competition was a clearly personal highlight, although Mbappe will certainly feel bad because he cannot influence things in a Champions League defeat against Arsenal, or that another Treble in the last Clasico of the season meant nothing if Barcelona took all three points with a 4-3 win.
Booed by his own supporters
Being stuck by his own fans, it probably also came as a huge shock for the system, but it is not really his goals that caused fear in the stands.
To date, Mbappe has only made 15 tackles in all competitions, and a success rate of only 62.5% tells its own story. Couple made with only five interceptions in his 54 games played and they start to build a picture of a player who has much to improve in terms of his defensive responsibilities.
The total passes of Kylian Mbappe against Barcelona in the last Clasico of the 2024/25 season by Statspleform
For someone who clearly has a considerable amount of upper body strength that he has lost 169 of his 302 duels to give him a pathetic success rate of 44% in LaLiga, is simply not good enough for a player of his caliber.
Too similar to Vinicius JR?
With a similar play profile as Vinicius Junior, there was always a chance that the couple would take a while to see their partnership bloom. Making the same runs and coming into the same positions has been a fairly regular theme throughout the season, and that has undoubtedly caused problems.
Strikers of course live for goals, and that firmness is often at the expense of playing a simpler ball for a teammate. Both Vini Jr. As Mbappe, this season is guilty of being selfish of several times, and it is difficult to claim that it has really been cost in certain games.
Indeed, when the 26-year-old really should have been looking for the channels or behind the defense that Vinicius, Jude Bellingham or Rodrygo, for example, had made a potentially decisive run-decords that there had been an important drop-off from him.
Real Madrid's Vinicius JR and Kylian Mbappe make the same run during the match against Barcelona on 11 May Estevez / EPA / Profimedia
A good example would be the first competition Clasico.
Although his completion rate was a monstrous 95.5% in the Santiago Bernabeu – his best of the season – he only made 22 passes throughout the game. His three goals scored in the last Clasico also do not take away from the fact that he has only made nine passes in that game.
Compare that output with 91 passes tried against Espanyol and 73 fits into Atletico Madrid, even if they came up with a much lower success rate.
Individual sparkle must make way for team ethics
In essence, there have been flashes of individual sparkle of the player, but the multiple options to offer so much more this season are not taken.
When the assessment of the season is carried out, the club hierarchy must therefore decide whether Mbappe should be seen as an out-and-out striker and only to judge him on his goals, or to give him a broader opinion about what he does or does not bring to the team and make suggestions for next season.
Ultimately, the shortcomings of each player can be obscured when Real Madrid wins trophies, but that has not been the case this season, and so Mbappe was made to scapegoat in some quarters.
Real Madrid is celebrating the UEFA Super Cup – their only trophy of the 2024/25 Seasonanp, ANP / Alamy / Profimedia
A UEFA Super Cup is everything the club should show for their efforts in 24/25, so it is correct that questions must and will be asked.
PSG could win the Champions League without Mbappe
Another turn in the story is of course that his former employers without Mbappe reached the Champions League final and could win it for the first time.
“I was brave when I told you last season that we would have a better team in attack and defense (without Mbappe),” said PSG manager, Luis Enrique, in February when he was asked about the player's departure.
“I keep saying that, and the numbers are there to show it.”
Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here by Real Madrid …
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