How Kylian Mbappe’s Real Madrid season hit a new low against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League

Kylian Mbappe stood with his hands above his head hiding his face from view as the blood-red wall erupted in celebration all around Anfield. The fans in white, nestled in the away stands, looked aghast. Caoimhin Kelleher, the Liverpool keeper, the architect of these contrasting emotions was being congratulated his Liverpool teammates. Mbappe had just missed a penalty when the score was 1-0 in favour of Liverpool in the big-ticket UEFA Champions League fixture on Wednesday night.
The night would get better for the Anfield faithful as the Reds doubled their lead with a Cody Gakpo strike in the 76th minute to reger their first win over the Spanish giants in 15 years. Mbappe’s season, meanwhile, sputtered and fell to a new low with the French superstar having regered just 2 shots in the whole match, one of them being the missed penalty. That’s a jarring number for a forward who is seen as the heir apparent for players like Lionel Messi and Criano Ronaldo.
But heavy is the head that wears the crown as Mbappe has found out since his transfer to Los Blancos where the Champions League is a tournament in which the fans and the club are most eager to fare well. Mbappe’s time as a UCL player for Real hasn’t had the same impact that most experts would have hoped for with the star finding the net just once in the competition, way back in September against Stuttgart.
With Mbappe misfiring, and a litany of injuries to key starters, Real have had a nightmare start to their Champions League campaign where they have lost to Lille as well as AC Milan and are currently 24th in the European table. Five matchweeks into the new season, a return of six points after three defeats is not something anyone would have predicted for the fate of the defending champions and the tournament’s most successful side.
Soccer Football – Champions League – Liverpool v Real Madrid – Anfield, Liverpool, Britain – November 27, 2024 Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe has his penalty kick saved Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher REUTERS/Molly Darlington
So, what has been ailing Mbappe and Real this season? Part of the problem is that Mbappe has been played out of position at various points this season, where he has been asked to play through the center instead of his preferred left side. This is because Vinicius Junior has made the left wing his own and it’s very difficult to displace him. However, this weekend in La Liga against Leganes, coach Carlos Ancelotti tweaked the formation and played Mbappe on the left which had an instant impact with the player opening the score in what would be an easy 3-0 win.
So, it was easy for Ancelotti to start Mbappe on the left against Liverpool as well and with Vinicius’s injury-enforced absence, the Frenchman was handed a chance to burst into form on a silver platter. But he arguably played his worst game yet in a Real Madrid jersey, proving toothless at Anfield in front of a disciplined Reds defence.
His shots were wayward and rushed which is a far cry from the way he played in the French league for PSG. The penalty which he took against Liverpool also encapsulated everything going wrong for the player- an underconfident punt which was the right height for the goalkeeper to save easily. The unmakable swagger with which he used to step up to take spot kicks in the past was missing with Mbappe looking a bit cautious under the bright lights. And to add all that, he was dispossessed easily on a few occasions too.
“Maybe a little, but the idea should be to play simple, this is transitory. You can’t judge everything missing a penalty,” Ancelotti said after the Liverpool match when asked about Mbappe’s lack of confidence.
The confidence among supporters for the player might be waning too with his numbers in the domestic league being underwhelming as well. Mbappe has 7 goals in 12 La Liga matches having taken 57 shots in total, the most for any player in the league, according to ESPN’s stats. Out of these, only 27 have been on target with his conversion rate at 12.3%. Even his pace, which is one of his greatest strengths, has been underwhelming with his runs behind the defenders getting mimed far more often than not. Mbappe was infamously flagged offside 8 times in the last El Clasico against Barcelona which Real lost 4-0.
It might be the pressure of finally achieving his dream move to his dream club weighing him down but Mbappe would want to rediscover the form that made him a certified superstar. Football is a fickle sport- it might not wait for him for too long.