Kylian Mbappé thought he had got his Madrid adventure off to a perfect start by scoring his first goal in his first match in his new colours, against Atalanta in the European Super Cup. But things are not going as planned for the French striker in La Liga. After three starts, against modest opponents (Mallorca, Valladolid and Las Palmas), he has not found the back of the net. And this is a first in his career. The explanations exist, but they will not satisfy the enormous expectation generated by his arrival at Real Madrid.
Against Las Palmas this Thursday evening, he was once again lined up as number 9 with Vinicius on the left and Brahim Diaz on the right. The first half unfortunately resembled the one against Valladolid, with few collective movements, and a Mbappé caught in the net. He tried his luck without really having any space, and was therefore logically countered. And on one of his rare balls in depth, he once again gave the impression of a player still far from his optimal form. It is to help him find it again that Carlo Ancelotti has him play the first league matches.
An agreement not yet reached with Vinicius
But this apparent athletic deficit is not compensated by a well-oiled collective. Mbappé does not yet have his bearings with his teammates, and he sometimes gives the impression of moving a little to a fault. And when he comes to hang around in his preferred zone, at the edge of the area on the left side, we did not feel a Vinicius eager to combine with him. Thus, for the first time, we saw a Mbappé express his incomprehension with gestures towards his Brazilian teammate.
Vinicius doesn’t necessarily need Mbappé when he’s thrown into an overflow, and the Frenchman’s propensity to systematically position himself behind didn’t appeal to the Brazilian in his choices with the ball. So the former Parisian tried his luck on the other side, with some interesting but ultimately ineffective overflows. Here he is already after 3 matches having to solve this equation that many had predicted would be insoluble: how to integrate into Real Madrid in a position that he doesn’t really like, and in a squad that didn’t wait for him to win everything? Carlo Ancelotti, with 2 draws in 3 La Liga games, has not yet found the recipe. And thus finds himself with his worst total of points in the elite at this stage of the competition since the 2019-2020 season.
