Kylian Mbappe fails to take advantage of Vinicius’ absence | OneFootball

Real Madrid were finally able to land one of the most desired target of the last few years, Kylian Mbappe, in the last summer transfer window.

The Frenchman’s arrival received mixed reactions from the club’s fans and critics. One side of the argument had no doubt that Mbappe was one of the best players in the world, and his arrival would further strengthen the already fearsome Real Madrid attack.

However, the other side did not see things in the same rosy way and believed the Merengues would struggle to fit the French star in their team as he and Vinicius both perform the best on the left wing.

Carlo Ancelotti tried to get around this problem by playing Mbappe more centrally, and keeping Vinicius on the wing, while also allowing these two players to frequently interchange their positions throughout matches.

Still, Mbappe has not really been convinced with his role as a centre-forward since his arrival at the Spanish club, and thus, Vinicius’ injury, while unfortunate, still provided the Frenchman with a chance to showcase that he still remains the deadly forward that Europe used to fear, especially when he plays on his preferred left wing position.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he also got to showcase this talent in one of the biggest matches of the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League, as Real Madrid were set to face Liverpool at Anfield right after Vinicius got injured in the game against Leganes.

However, as the whole world witnessed on Wednesday, Mbappe was completely unsuccessful in taking advantage of this situation, and to the surprise of many, his performance regressed even further as he took his position on the left wing.

This was one of the worst outings for the Frenchman in a Real Madrid shirt, as, in addition to not being able to make any noteworthy attacking moves, the World Cup winner also missed a crucial penalty which could have allowed his team to tie the scores at 1-1 despite being on the receiving end of Liverpool’s attack for most part of the game.

This penalty miss captured the whole of Mbappe’s Real Madrid career up to now, but his performance on the night was abysmal even if that penalty had not even existed.

The former PSG forward remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes but was unable to get any goal or assist in this game. He had one shot on target in total, which came from the penalty spot, and which was saved by the Liverpool goalie.

According to Sofascore statistics, the Frenchman also recorded only a 75% passing success rate, as he completed only 18 of his attempted 24 passes. Similarly, he lost 7 of his attempted ground duels and lost the ball 15 times.

Thus, instead of taking advantage of Vinicius’ absence, Mbappe fell even below the standards that he has shown in his Real Madrid career up to now. Hopefully, this performance will drive him to prove his doubters wrong as soon as possible, instead of pushing him deeper into the abyss.