It was late November last year. Kylian Mbappe was in a dismal state after losing his rhythm. In the meantime, a picture of Mbappe went viral after the Champions League defeat to Liverpool. In that picture, the French star can be seen upside down with his legs raised up, resting on his neck.
Many people laughed at the picture at the time. Some even read the picture in conjunction with Mbappe's ongoing plight.Of course, there was little room for critics or trolls to blame. At that time, Mbappe was consistently performing poorly. Which had really cornered him.That bad experience against Liverpool came back in a different way a few days later. On the night of Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat against Athletic Bilbao, Mbappe missed a penalty. After that, some started calling him 'missed penalty'.
It was quite an embarrassing experience. But the picture was not supposed to be like that at all.After years of drama and ups and downs, Mbappe left PSG for Real Madrid in the summer transfer window. Due to the frequency of events and his name, Mbappe was naturally under the microscope from the beginning. His every moment was being monitored closely. Spectators, supporters, former footballers or the media - everyone had their eyes on him. And Rob was left speechless. Social media was also flooded with comments like 'Real Madrid made a mistake in buying him' or 'Mbappe can't take the pressure'. He had to bear most of the responsibility for the team's poor performance, which was unfair. Everyone seemed reluctant to even give him time to adapt to the team.
In such a situation, Mbappe had to answer on the field. It was not that he was performing very badly from the beginning or that he could not be found on the field. The problem was in consistency. He was not able to play in the same rhythm regularly. In addition, it was not clear what Mbappe's role would be in the team's coordination. For these reasons, he could not even find himself properly. Some were also suspecting that Real Madrid was in such a state because of the abundance of stars. Especially since the past experience with the Galacticos was not good, this fear was not completely unfounded.
But against all the negative talk, Mbappe made a promise. After missing a penalty against Bilbao, he said, "It's a difficult moment. But this is also the best time to change this situation and show who I am." Mbappe did not take long to prove that this was not just talk. The World Cup-winning star quickly turned around and started performing consistently. Which changed the scene at the end of the season. At the moment, if you name one of the most successful stars of the current season, Mbappe's name will definitely come on that list. His return to rhythm is also a great relief for Real Madrid. He has shown Real the way from the front several times at important moments.
Let's take the play-offs to reach the last 16 in the Champions League. After scoring 1 goal in the first leg against Manchester City, he scored a hat-trick in the second leg. It can be said that Guardiola's City surrendered to Mbappe. Then, Mbappe played great in the last 16 against Atletico Madrid. He converted Vinicius Junior's missed penalty in the second leg. If he could have finished that attack without being fouled, it could have been recognized as one of the best goals of the season. Mbappe, who was on loan in the Champions League, has also been brought to La Liga. He scored a brace in Real's 2-1 win over Villarreal on Saturday night. Mbappe is now the second highest scorer in La Liga this season. Mbappe has now scored 20 goals in 26 matches, along with 3 assists. However, another thing is noteworthy here, Mbappe scored 7 goals in the first 14 matches for Real, and 13 goals in the next 14 matches. These statistics seem to be enough to understand the evolution of Mbappe's performance.
Mbappe also set a milestone on the way to this goal. He has the second highest number of goals in his first 25 matches for Real after Cristiano Ronaldo - 18. Ronaldo scored 20 goals in the first 25 matches. Mbappe is now threatening Robert Lewandowski with the highest number of goals in La Liga. Lewa is at the top with 1 goal more than him in 25 matches. And in total, Mbappe's goals in the current season are now 30 in 43 matches, including 4 assists. Now, if we consider the statistics up to this point, Mbappe must be given full marks. If we add to this the performance of shining in big matches or the team's important moments, he is definitely one of the best stars of this season. But Mbappe has done that difficult task very easily. Even the rough form of Mbappe that was heard at PSG was not seen here. Rather, his interaction with Vinicius-Bellingham is quite noticeable. As a result, Real's attack is now sharp and intense.
Despite such performances, Mbappe has not been successful so far. The measure of Real's success is the trophy. As long as the trophy is not in hand, there is no chance to call it successful.
Hopefully, Real has a chance to win three titles at the end of the season. Where, along with the Champions League and La Liga, there is also a chance to win the Copa del Rey. And Real wants Mbappe 100% to use this opportunity. Now it remains to be seen whether Mbappe can maintain the rhythm until the end of the season and bring Real the title.
It was not easy to single-handedly pull all the spotlight from Real's star-studded team in the first season. It is quite difficult to become a solo performer behind a team that has three stars like Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo in the front line.