Mbappe surpasses legendary forward’s record despite rough start to life in Spain

Kylian Mbappe’s brace for Real Madrid on Saturday night’s La Liga game against Villarreal has surpassed Brazilian legend Ronaldo’s goal tally for a debut season at Real Madrid.

The French forward netted both goals in Madrid’s 2-1 comeback win on Saturday, bringing his La Liga total to 20 and his overall tally for the season to 31. This is one more than Ronaldo’s 30 goals in his first season at the club in 2002-03.

Mbappe joined Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain last summer and initially faced criticism for his early performances. He struggled to find his footing in the Real Madrid squad where he plays as a center forward. The 26-year-old has been a force from the left wing since his senior career debut in Monaco and at Paris Saint-German. The French star had to adapt to the center role in Carlo Ancelotti’s three-forward setup with Brazil’s Vinicius Jnr retaining the left wing. However, surpassing Ronaldo’s debut season goal record is a significant achievement for Mbappe who has become the team’s talisman this season. His goals also helped Los Blancos recover from an earlier decline in the La Liga and Champions League to commanding positions.

With plenty more games to the end of the 2024/25 season, Mbappe is on track to break the record for the best debut season in the club’s history, a record held by Ivan Zamorano with 37 goals in 1992-93. Cristiano Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy are tied for second with 33 goals each.

Additionally, Kylian Mbappe became the first French player in history to score 30 or more goals in six consecutive seasons for a club in Europe’s top five leagues. His continued dominance in Spain has refuted previous claims that he wasn’t going to be as good a player as he was in France. Mbappe will now join the French national team for international duty.

“We Won’t Play if not given not given 72 hours of Rest” – Carlo Ancelotti

Despite the victory at Villareal on the weekend, the attention quickly switched to the issue of workload for the Los Blancos. Real Madrid strongly protested against their tight match schedule, with manager Carlo Ancelotti stating that the team would no longer play if they were not given at least 72 hours to rest between games.

Real Madrid played a challenging second Leg of their Champions League round of 16 against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday night. A match that lasted until nearly midnight due to a 30-minute extra time and penalties. Just over 48 hours later, they had to face Villarreal in La Liga on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Ancelotti criticized the scheduling on Friday, blaming “TV rights and money” for being prioritized by the Spanish League over player recovery and health. 

The Italian coach mentioned that the club had previously reached out to the League directors for the possibility of moving the game to Sunday to feature alongside rivals and co-participants in the Champions League – Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, but the club got no positive response to their demands. La Liga has denied the claims of Real Madrid asking for an extension further adding to the list of disputes between the club and the authorities this season. La Liga, however, made it clear that they have gone a little wrong as per their guidelines and the rules of the Spanish Football Federation.

Before Saturday’s game, Madrid’s club channel announced that they would seek FIFA’s help to prevent this from happening again. After their 2-1 victory over Villarreal, Ancelotti reinforced the club’s position during the post-match press conference stating that;

“This is the last time we’ll play without 72 hours of rest,” he explained that the club had twice requested La Liga to reschedule the match, but were ignored. When asked if the team would refuse to play in the future under similar circumstances, he confirmed, “No, of course not.”

FIFA advises at least 72 hours between games for player safety, but match timings are set by league organizers which usually end up in situations like this one which could have easily been avoided by a prosponding the game. Had Real Madrid dropped points in the title race, it would have been another story altogether. Meanwhile, Madrid’s closest rivals – Barcelona and Athletico Madrid had an extra day’s rest before their key La Liga clash on Sunday.

Thanks to a brace from Kylian Mbappe, Madrid will have maximum points going into the international break. Ancelotti praised his players for their effort despite fatigue, “The team was exhausted, but that’s normal.”

Top clubs have often criticized the packed football calendar, and the issue will worsen next season with the new and expanded FIFA Club World Cup which is scheduled from June 15 to July 13.

Real Madrid PLanning Huge Summer 2025 Transfers

Unlike last summer, the Real Madrid board seems to be taking more interest in potential upgrades to the squad in the forthcoming season. 

The Club welcomed Kylian Mbappe and Endrick from PSG and Palmerias respectively and ended up facing multiple injury concerns in positions that were left volatile. This includes positions in the right back, upgrade and back-ups to the center, and attacking midfield roles. The potential of a new solid center striker is also under consideration.

News from London indicates that Chelsea is falling out of faith in their new manager Enzo Maresca and is ready to try and rehire Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, who is expected to be sacked by the Spanish champions after they allegedly struck a deal to hire Xabi Alonso from Bayer Leverkusen this summer. Alonso has long been identified as a replacement for the Italian, but neither the club nor Carlo Ancelotti has signaled an end to their partnership at the end of the season.

Los Blancos expressed a significant interest in signing Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, joining Chelsea in the race for the 19-year-old’s signature. The Spanish giants view him as a potential option should they fail to convince Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez to join from Chelsea.

Also on the agenda for Real Madrid is a €100m (£84.2m) move for Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyokeres. The Swedish striker has been identified as a potential boost to Madrid’s attacking force and to cover the void solid center position. The 26-year-old has been a longtime transfer target for Arsenal who would also look forward to triggering his release clause this summer.

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Carlo Ancelotti’s team has advanced to the top of their game despite earlier challenges in the campaign. They retained the top spot in La Liga going into the international break while waiting on crucial rounds in the Copa del Rey and Champions League against Real Sociedad and Arsenal respectively. As usual, they appear to be candidates to claim a tremble but will face heavy challenge from their close rival Barcelona – who have become a force since Hansi Flick’s arrival. Be live to witness all the on-field drama, buy your tickets, and rally behind Los Blancos on their incredible end of the 2024/25 season.