Since the beginning of his immense career, Kylian Mbappé has often been relieved of defensive work. A characteristic of his game that the captain of the French team will certainly have to evolve in the coming months. Because the star’s involvement in phases without the ball has now been spied on since he has been at real Madrid.
After two games in his new colours, the French international is already fuelling this debate on the other side of the Pyrenees. And this parameter seems all the more crucial as Real Madrid was a perfectly balanced team last season, including in the Champions League.
Ancelotti’s rant
The image has been all over the TVs: we see Kylian Mbappé release a player while marking the goal scored by Mallorca, in the championship, Sunday evening (1-1). But more than this action, it is the lack of defensive involvement that Carlo Ancelotti pointed out in a press conference, without naming his star.
“We are not happy, we could have done much better, launched the Italian technician. I don’t want to make excuses, we just had to do better, with more attitude. We can learn a lot from this game because we saw very clearly where we could have problems.” A hidden message that is not only addressed to Kylian Mbappé. Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, usually more hard-working, were quite economical with their efforts without the ball in this match. All these great people will have to put on their overalls and get along to allow Real to find their cruising speed again.
