The reporter reported coldly Real Madrid's 3-0 win at Girona saw the controversial Mbappe form pick up somewhat, setting up Real Madrid's second goal and netting the third to seal the game. The goal made Mbappe, who is 25 years and 11 months old, the fourth-youngest player to score 200 goals in the history of the top five leagues, behind Lionel Messi (25 years and 7 months), Dixie Dean (25 years and 1 month) and Greaves (23 years and 6 months). Dean and Greaves are both legends of the classical era, and this statistic is enough to show Mbappe's strength.
However, for Real Madrid, Mbappe, who has 9 goals and 3 assists in 16 rounds of La Liga, still does not meet expectations, and they feel that Mbappe can be better.
Real Madrid's attitude towards "saving" Mbappe has always been very resolute. After the away game against Girona, Real Madrid president Florentino personally visited the dressing room to express his condolences to the team, especially Mbappe. The Real Madrid president praised the French star for his goalscoring skills in person, and such one-on-one encouragement is very rare at Real Madrid. The newspaper "Marca" also set the tone for Real Madrid's attitude towards Mbappe: Real Madrid Club has always insisted on promoting Mbappe, a "project" with a huge investment in the club, and no matter how much time it takes, the strength and global influence that Mbappe should show must be realized. No matter how much skepticism there may be, achieving this goal is Real Madrid's unshakable plan.
Real Madrid paid more than 100 million euros to sign Mbappe, gave him the team's maximum salary, and ceded part of the image rights. The cost of bringing in the Frenchman surpasses that of any previous galactic superstar, and for the Real Madrid president, this is an A-list project that cannot afford to fail. But as Ronaldo admonished: Real Madrid is not a big Paris, there are more superstars, more brutal competition and more pressure from public opinion. Obviously, Mbappe is not ready enough. Three months on, people are seeing a French superstar who is at a low point both mentally and physically.
The newspaper "Marca" even believes that the current state of Mbappe gives people a feeling: it seems that no matter how much trust Real Madrid gives him, how much space and responsibility he gives him, he will not raise his head.
On a tactical level, Mbappe has played as a central striker in both Paris and France in recent years, and his efficiency is also at a top striker level. But when he arrived at Real Madrid, Mbappe lost the feeling in front of goal and the speed advantage that made him famous. As the negative form continues, so does Mbappe's confidence. The Spanish media got the message from the Real Madrid dressing room: Mbappe still works hard enough in training, but he can't get into the role when he gets to the pitch.
Vinicius is injured and Mbappe has returned to his familiar left winger position, but he still can't find his senses. Even after scoring against Getafe and Girona in the past week, the focus is that he continues to miss great chances. Since the start of La Liga, Mbappe has missed 14 major scoring opportunities, and is the only player in La Liga to reach double figures in this embarrassing statistic. Even though the away win against Girona was sealed, he still missed the absolute one-on-one goal, and it was the referee who blew the handball first to save him from being criticized by the media again.
Mbappe has missed two penalties in the last three games, and has conceded penalties twice, raising widespread questions about his confidence. Mbappe's anxiety is also palpable: he has been offside in La Liga 23 times so far this season, three more than he did in the whole of Paris last season. At this rate, Mbappe could have been offside more than 50 times this season, compared to his previous record of 39 offsides in a single season in 2021/22.
Despite his frustration and lack of confidence, at least Mbappe has not publicly complained about Real Madrid's dismissal, and has taken the initiative to take responsibility after missing a penalty to Athletic Bilbao, earning the approval of the Real Madrid dressing room.
Real Madrid President Florentino has put it into practice, emphasizing the firmness of the action to "save" Mbappe without fail. After the defeats against Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao, the Real Madrid president conveyed to Mbappe the club's unsparing support for him. Real Madrid's external statement is also unanimous, only encouragement, and no one is allowed to openly express doubts. The Real Madrid dressing room continued to support Mbappe as always, with Vazquez and Courtois both taking the initiative to express their understanding of Mbappe and willing to give him more time to get back into form.
Even Bellingham, who is considered to be in direct competition with Mbappe, has seen a noticeable increase in his interactions with Mbappe on and off the pitch recently. Even if there were complaints about Mbappe's failure to pass the ball in time, after Mbappe scored, the England midfielder still sent his blessings, and Mbappe reciprocated with concern about his teammate's nose injury. Real Madrid Club is also trying its best to create a more relaxed public opinion environment for Mbappe, and constantly emphasizing through the media that the continuous injuries of Vinicius, Camavinga and other main players are the main reasons for Real Madrid's poor performance, helping Mbappe to get rid of the excessive attention of public opinion. At the same time, Real Madrid has also repeatedly complained to the referee committee, just to shift the focus to the referee.
In the win over Getafe a week ago, the Frenchman won the team award for his goal, despite Mbappe not being the best player in the game. There is no doubt that this is the special attention that comes from the club to help the players regain their confidence. On the pitch, his teammates are also giving Mbappe more and more support. First Bellingham and then Modric continued to provide ammunition. Although Mbappe is still not back to his proper form, his tacit understanding with the two midfield superstars is clearly increasing. The newspaper AS believes that in the long run, Mbappe will become more and more comfortable with the midfield, and Real Madrid will not have to worry about at least in terms of the tactical support that the French receive.
As for how to alleviate Mbappe's anxiety problem, it can only be solved by himself. But in the Real Madrid dressing room, Florentino turned to Zinedine Zidane to help. At the beginning, Benzema and Varane successfully got out of the slump with the help of Zidane. Zidane was able to bring Mbappe Jr. to the Bernabeu Stadium and lay the latter's "childhood dream", and now the Real Madrid president has high hopes to complete the ultimate strategic task of saving Mbappe.
The media and fans always mention the failures of Bale and Eden Hazard at Real Madrid, but Mbappe is at the heart of Florentino's future strategy and he never thinks about failure.