Peter Drury, reputed as one of the, if not the greatest Commentator in the world before the 2022 World Cup final described Kylian Mbappe to be prowling in the foothills of greatness. Later that night Mbappe proved that statement by scoring a hattrick in the Final giving France a fighting chance till the very end. But since then, he has been on a downward spiral. For the French Captain everything just keeps getting worse and worse.
In the summer, the 25-year-old fulfilled his childhood dream of signing for Real Madrid and everyone expected him to set the footballing world alight along with Vinicius Jr. Instead he has had a very poor start to the campaign scoring just 9 goals in his first 19 matches for Los Blancos, out of which 4 are from the Penalty spot. His poor run of form has also had a massive impact on his Club Real Madrid’s form this season.
After assembling their Galacticos 3.0, Los Merengues have failed to impress so far this season. Apart from 1-2 good outings, they haven’t been at their best as was evident last night against Athletic Bilbao. Up until the 70th minute in the match, Real Madrid failed to create clear cut chances while Bilbao capitalised on the chance they got to make it 1-0. Madrid chased the game down for a good attacking spell of 10-15 minutes which resulted in a lucky goal for Jude Bellingham. But just 2 minutes later, Madrid’s Mr. Dependable, Fede Valverde made a rare mistake which led to Bilbao’s second of the night.
Before all this drama ensued when the game was still 1-0, Real Madrid were awarded a penalty for a foul on Antonio Rudiger inside the box. Kylian Mbappe stepped up to the spot and kicked it weakly enough for Athletic Bilbao’s 2nd choice goalkeeper to pull of a rather comfortable save in the end. This was Kylian Mbappe’s second Penalty miss for Real Madrid in a row after he missed one from the spot at Anfield against Liverpool.
Not only have Madrid dropped points yet again in La Liga, but they also could not take the opportunity to overtake Barcelona at the top of the table. In the end, Athletic Bilbao outclassed Madrid on all fronts of the game. And the heart of the problem yet again, was Kylian Mbappe.
At this point, even his most hardcore fans are running out of ways to defend him. That’s how dire the Kylian Mbappe situation at Real Madrid has been. Meanwhile, Real Madrid is peismissing Vinicius Jr’s services on the pitch. His injury, many thought, would be a blessing in disguise for Kylian Mbappe. But the French striker has failed to deliver for Madrid even then. What is going wrong for Mbappe? Will he ever bounce back from this? Let us know in the comments below.
