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Kylian Mbappe’s Disastrous Run of Form Continues
We look at what’s gone wrong for Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid this season following his stunning move from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
For the fans with Real Madrid tickets, the worrying concern of an underperforming Kylian Mbappe is traumatic.
The superstar signing from PSG has scored just two goals in the last eight games —his worst run since 2021.
Now, the fans are asking whether he was worth it.
Mbappé’s signing last summer was Madrid’s most high-profile arrival since Cristiano Ronaldo 15 years earlier. Over 70,000 fans with Real Madrid tickets packed the Bernabéu to welcome him.
This was a ready-made superstar, approaching his peak, flying in from Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent to take the Spanish and European champions to the next level.
At least, that was the idea: Mbappé would make a good team even better, scoring hatfuls of goals as Madrid strolled to another league title.
Problems at Real
In coach Carlo Ancelotti’s news conference ahead of a recent Sunday’s La Liga game at Leganés, five of the 13 questions were about Mbappé. Journalists asked about his positioning on the pitch, his involvement in training and even irresponsibly, speculated about his mental health.
Mbappé’s omission from the past two France squads has only intensified the scrutiny. National team coach Didier Deschamps implored the media to “leave [Mbappé] alone” earlier this month, but his vague explanations for his team captain’s absence didn’t help; he said that Mbappé wanted to play, but he had decided otherwise.
Rightly so, Ancelotti has said, “It’s just a matter of time” before Mbappé comes good.
Mbappe’s Statistical Record
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Kylian Mbappé’s move to Real Madrid was meant to make a great team even better. Where is it going wrong for him?
Forget all the other statistics, at least for a moment, because Mbappé’s success or failure at Real Madrid will be determined by how many goals he scores.
Last season, Jude Bellingham (19) and Vinícius Júnior (15) top-scored for Madrid in La Liga. Outdoing them would be the bare minimum, but if Mbappé comfortably tops those tallies — let’s say with 25-30 goals, as he did in his last four seasons at PSG — complaints about his work rate or how often he was caught offside, will soon be forgotten.
Mbappé has nine goals in 17 Real Madrid appearances in all competitions and seven in 12 in La Liga.
That makes him Madrid’s second-highest scorer behind Vinícius, who has 12 in all competitions and eight in La Liga. While Vinícius is outperforming his expected goals (xG), converting more chances than you’d expect,
Mbappé is doing the opposite. His seven league goals have come at an xG of 8.83. In the Champions League, it’s even worse, scoring once in four games with an xG of 2.68.
Mbappé’s finishing isn’t usually this wayward. At PSG, he overperformed his XG in six consecutive Ligue 1 seasons from 2018 to 2024.
Whether it’s nerves, a desire to impress, his positioning, the opposition, or other less tangible factors, he isn’t being so clinical now, and his shot numbers back up that assessment.
In 12 La Liga games, Mbappé has taken 57 shots, the most of any player in Spain’s top flight. Only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (62) has taken more in Europe’s top five leagues. La Liga’s top scorer with 15 goals, Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, has taken ten fewer shots than Mbappé in two more games.
Of Mbappé’s 57 shots, just 27 have been on target, a hit rate of 47.4%. That puts Mbappé 125th among the 461 forwards in Europe’s top five leagues who’ve played five or more games in terms of his shot percentage on target. In LaLiga alone, 21 forwards have been more accurate in their shooting than Mbappé this season, including Celta Vigo’s Borja Iglesias (58.8%), Lewandowski (57.4%) and Real Betis’ Vitor Roque (55.6%).
Given those high-volume figures, Mbappé’s conversion rate of shots to goals is naturally poor, at 12.3%. That makes Mbappé LaLiga’s 48th-deadliest forward this season and 230th among forwards in Europe’s top five leagues.
To put that into context, Atlético Madrid’s Alexander Sørloth — who hasn’t looked like a consistent finisher this season — has a better conversion rate (17.9%). Lewandowski’s is an impressive 31.9%. Elsewhere, Haaland’s is 19.4%, Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson is 25%, and Harry Kane is 30.4% at Bayern Munich.
These numbers might seem too complex to decipher in a player, but those with Real Madrid tickets understand that the irregular performances on the field eventually add up to the poor run from the French star.
It’s not as if Mbappé regularly shoots from a distance, either. 84.2% of his shots have been taken inside the box, with 73.7% on his favoured right foot. But getting into goal-scoring positions hasn’t always been straightforward.
Mbappé’s timing of his runs has been off, most notably in October’s 4-0 Clásico defeat to Barcelona when he matched an unwanted record, being caught offside eight times. It was a career-high and the joint-highest figure a La Liga player recorded in the past 15 years.
Creating chances
Of course, being Real Madrid’s centre-forward isn’t just about scoring goals. Mbappé’s predecessor in Madrid’s No. 9 shirt was Karim Benzema. He built his reputation on selfless combination play and raised the bar for what we can reasonably expect in the position. And Mbappé isn’t Benzema.
This season, Mbappé has created a respectable 13 chances — a stat that combines key passes and assists — in La Liga. That compares with 44 from Barcelona’s Raphinha, an early candidate for player of the season. Madrid teammate Vinícius has created 29 chances, more than twice as many as Mbappé.
In total, 14 La Liga forwards — of 127 who’ve played at least one minute this season — have created more chances than Mbappé.
When we narrow our focus to “big chances created” for teammates — defined as situations where a player should reasonably be expected to score — Mbappé has just two in La Liga. That’s far behind Raphinha with 14, Yamal with 12, and Griezmann with Vinícius with seven.
A lot is riding on Mbappe right now, and even when the opportunity opened up on the biggest stage against Liverpool—the Premier League and Champions League leaders—he squandered it.
In Vincius Jr.’s absence, the travelling fans with Real Madrid tickets assumed that it was Mbappe’s day at Anfield, but it was a nightmare. The team lost 2-0 to the Reds, and Mbappe’s stat sheet was a disappointing card to review.
What the club will do if this poor run of form continues will not be a pleasant scenario.
Real Pursuing Trent Alexander-Arnold?
The Spanish giants are not obliged to register an interest in Alexander-Arnold as he can sign a pre-contract agreement with an overseas club in January.
Liverpool still hopes to convince England defender Alexander-Arnold to sign a new deal at Anfield.
His contract and those of Captain Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah will end next summer.
It’s prompted a swirl of rumours about new deals and potential transfers for all three.
Ties to Alexander-Arnold have also grown, with the England international enjoying a strong friendship with Real superstar Jude Bellingham. Their connection had previously led Liverpool fans to hope Bellingham would join the Reds from former club Borussia Dortmund.
The 21-year-old moved to the Spanish capital, though, and has already won La Liga and the Champions League.
Losing Alexander-Arnold for free next summer would be a big blow for Liverpool, but it may not be as hurtful to the team as it would have seemed a year ago.
Fans with Real Madrid tickets will know the outcome soon.
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