Hello all, welcome back to the blog. Kylian Mbappe’s first season with Real Madrid has been a massive mixed bag. After a 7-year long transfer saga finally ending in a move to the Spanish capital announced in June 2024 after close calls in 2017, 2021, and the closest in 2022, with the Frenchman looking set on a move to Madrid for months before PSG came in with a massive extension offer in late May that changed his mind.
When Mbappe finally did join Los Blancos, the feeling for every football fan was surreal. Seeing Mbappe finally don the white shirt looked like something from the countless online edits over the years, but here he was. In Mid-August, the striker made his Madrid debut, scoring in a 2-0 win over Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup, winning silverware and scoring a goal. Surely this was a sign of things to come, of the dominance that would surely be sparked by Mbappe, along with other stars Vini Jr and Jude Bellingham, who likely all had nearly a decade at least left together at the top.
It wasn’t. Real Madrid have had struggles all season, since March started alone, they’ve scored 16 and conceded 18 in all competitions, with 5 wins, 1 draw, and 4 losses in that span. But still, all season, convincing wins have been incredibly hard to come by, with their last multi-goal win being nearly 2 months ago, a 2-0 win against Girona on February 23rd. They had a good run in January, beating Mallorca 3-0, Celta 5-2 (although we’ll get to this later), Las Palmas 4-1, Salzburg 5-1, Valladolid 3-0, and Brest 3-0. However, they still suffered arguably their most embarrassing moment of the season that month, a 5-2 defeat in the Supercopa final to Barcelona, which could have been made 6, 7, or 8 if not for Wojciech Szczesny’s red card with 30 left to play.
Along with unconvincing wins and incredibly frequent dropped points, Madrid have had some utterly embarrassing matches so far this season as well. To go with the aforementioned 5-2 beating suffered at the hands of Barcelona, Madrid were also spanked 4-0 in this season’s other Clasico, at their own ground, the Santiago Bernabeu. And last week, they were beaten 3-0 in the Champions League Quarter Finals by an Arsenal side that has essentially no late-stage tournament experience – and they’ve made no indication that they’ll even mount a comeback attempt in the second leg on Wednesday.
With a squad that’s had almost no change from the Real Madrid side that, last season, suffered just 2 defeats in all competitions, how have we got to a side that’s already lost 11, with many more potentially still to come? To me, the culprit is obvious. Who’s the big name Madrid have this season that they didn’t have last season? The major change to the squad between seasons? No, not Endrick, it’s Kylian Mbappe.
At first, it seems counterintuitive to blame Real Madrid’s top scorer, someone who has 32 goals in 48 appearances this season, and would likely get a lot of Ballon D’Or shouts should he win major silverware. Why not blame Jude Bellingham, whose productivity has dropped from 23 goals in 42 matches last season to 13 goals in 43 this season? What about Rodrygo and Vinicius, who have both dropped in productivity this season to about 80% of their quality last season? What about the defence, who have been so racked with injuries this season that Madrid have been forced to play Raul Asencio, who had no experience before this season, give Lucas Vazquez major minutes, and even drop Aurelien Tchouameni to center-back at times?
Well, some of those problems are valid, such as the defensive issue, as well as the issue of Toni Kroos’ retirement without a proper replacement. However, Kylian Mbappe has been the main problem, and I’ll tell you why.
First, let’s dissect the 32 goals scored by Kylian Mbappe this season. Who’ve they been against?
2 vs Atalanta
2 vs Betis
1 vs Sociedad
1 vs Stuttgart
1 vs Espanyol
1 vs Alaves
2 vs Celta
3 vs Leganes
1 vs Getafe
1 vs Girona
1 vs Pachuca
1 vs Sevilla
1 vs Barcelona (big team)
2 vs Las Palmas
1 vs RB Salzburg
3 vs Valladolid
1 vs Atleti (big team)
4 vs Man City (big team)
1 vs Osasuna
1 vs Rayo
2 vs Villarreal
Breaking this down, we can see 6 of the 32 goals coming against big teams. 3 of them came in by far his best performance of the season, a hattrick against Man City in the Champions League 9-24 playoff 2nd leg, and another came in a losing effort in the 5-2 loss to Barca. Before you tell me how this is normal for players that score a lot, look at Raphinha. 13 of his 28 goals this season have been against big teams in big games – 3 vs Bayern, 3 vs Madrid, 2 vs Dortmund, and 5 vs Benfica. Robert Lewandowski as well, who’s scored 10 of his 40 goals like this. While the ratio with Mbappe may seem like just a slight improvement, It’s worth noting that Mbappe’s goals were spread over 4 big matches, while Lewandowski’s were spread over 7 big matches, where his side got 6 wins and 1 draw.
I could go over more players, but you get the point by now. While Mbappe has turned up a lot against smaller opposition, he’s practically nonexistent in big matches. However, this still doesn’t explain Madrid’s struggles at the start of the season and in the last few months to beat smaller opponents. If Mbappe turns up in those games, why haven’t Madrid won convincingly? Well, my theory is that having Kylian Mbappe’s ego in the dressing room has turned into a negative for Real Madrid.
Before Mbappe’s arrival, Real Madrid were known as “Friendship FC” among many football fans. Players like Antonio Rudiger, Vini Jr, Fede Valverde, and many others were known for fostering an incredibly positive dressing room atmosphere under Carlo Ancelotti. However, many were skeptical to see if it would survive the additions of big egos like Jude Bellingham, and, more importantly, Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe didn’t always have an ego the size of the Santiago Bernabeu. When he started at PSG in 2017, he was just another breakout young star, after a great season with Monaco in 16/17, and became Neymar’s understudy at PSG after the French giants signed both in deals that are still the most and second most expensive transfer fees of all time. As Mbappe matured, it became apparent that he was better than Neymar, and by 2019/20, would be recognized as PSG’s best player. He also won the World Cup in 2018 as a 19-year old and would be recognized worldwide as football’s next big star. However, his ego inflated to never-before seen levels in 2022, after getting a contract extension from PSG after rejecting Real Madrid that would see him Europe’s highest paid player, with input in the team’s transfers and managerial choices. That same year, Mbappe would lead France to the World Cup final, scoring a hattrick in the World Cup final, and winning the tournament’s top scorer.
After the events of 2022, Mbappe was never the same. Not only was his ego inflated, but after that year, never again did I really feel the fear of the inevitable I always had when he played against my teams. Prior to that, whenever he played any of my teams, he always did incredibly. His unstoppable pace was just too much for the Barcelona and Argentina backlines, and he always scored at least one, usually more. Then he had his incredibly unique finishing style that had goalkeepers planted to the ground. While he still has that, he just hasn’t really been able to use it the same way he did before the start of 2023.
It’s a tale as old as time – A great player, after years, starts thinking about how great he is, and starts to decline in form. However, is there actually any evidence to prove that Mbappe is the cancer causing Madrid’s decline? Well, other than the massive dip in quality after his arrival, we can look across the border, from Spain’s to France’s capital, at Mbappe’s old club, PSG.
After losing their star man for over half a decade for nothing, PSG were expected to become a middle of the line club for the next few seasons after they recovered from losing Mbappe. Not middle of the line in Ligue 1, but middle of the line as far as big teams go, somewhere between where Bayern and Dortmund are now, or the same purgatory that Spurs have been stuck in for nearly a decade. It started by looking that way, with PSG out of the Champions League top 24 when the new year struck. Then, at the Parc-des-Princes in Oil Clasico vs Man City, in equally as bad a position as them, they went down 2-0 early in the second half. However, their form turned around right there and then and never slowed down.
PSG would go on to net 4 in the final 35 minutes against City, winning 4-2, before then beating Stuttgart 4-1, Brest 3-0 away, then 7-0 at home in the playoff round, and finally, the most incredible result, coming from behind at Anfield to beat Liverpool on penalties in the round of 16, a club who were considered top 2 in Europe on form. If anything, PSG look much better without Mbappe, seem much more put together as a team, with names like Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia picking up the slack for Mbappe’s loss. Even Vitinha, Joao Neves, and Achraf Hakimi have also had incredible seasons. There’s even more impressive players who we haven’t even mentioned.
All this seems pretty convincing, but the final nail in the coffin of making this post and this conclusion happened today. In Madrid’s 1-0 win against Alaves, Kylian Mbappe was sent off just before half time, for a TERRIBLE challenge on an Alaves midfielder, which nearly broke his leg. Studs up, with force, halfway to his knee, one of the worst challenges I’ve ever seen. Mbappe will likely be banned for at least 3 matches, which will see him miss the Copa del Rey final vs Barcelona.
The final test to see if this theory is correct will be to see how Los Blancos perform during Mbappe’s suspension. Will their form pick up, and will they finally win some games convincingly? Or will Mbappe’s absence, someone who they formed a dependency on, hinder their form further?
To conclude, the story of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid is one that can apply to many walks of life. Maybe the hot, popular girl at school isn’t all she’s cracked up to be if she becomes your girlfriend, and maybe it’s best to drop the toxic ex, even if she’s a 10. Your life’s already pretty good, what do you need a Lamborghini for? Florentino Perez and Real Madrid’s greed may have finally got the best of them. I’m Jim James, until next time.