Quiet until his brilliant performance that led to his team’s penalty against Atlético last night, Kylian Mbappé has not been spared in Spain.
From a French perspective, Kylian Mbappé may not have played his best game of the season yesterday against Atlético Madrid, but the Frenchman didn’t put in his worst performance for the Whites either. However, the former PSG striker has been the target of much criticism since last night in Spain, both for the level he’s displayed in his recent matches… and for his lack of personality.
Yesterday, Mbappé scored too rarely. His only flash of brilliance of the evening was this solo run that led to his team’s penalty… missed by Vinicius Junior. The newspaper AS wrote, for example: “Vinicius was the best player in Ancelotti’s team, and improved throughout the match. Mbappé: disappeared. Very static. He had his ups and downs with Giuliano on corners. And he appeared in the 68th minute, with this run that eluded Lenglet. Less and less visible, he held back from taking the penalty, but then scored his own, the first of the penalty shootout.”
Mbappé takes criticism for Vinicius Junior’s missed penalty
Mundo Deportivo wrote: “Madrid failed to connect again with Mbappé, who has been cold again for several matches, where he hasn’t shown his best form. Anyone would have thought Mbappé would take that penalty.” Speaking on Cadena Ser, the world champion also took criticism for Vinicius, whom, according to journalist Antonio Romero, he should have taken the penalty: “But can you imagine Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo running away from the ball and not taking that penalty?”
“If you want to be the leader of this team, you have to take penalties. Mbappé came here to make this Real Madrid Mbappé’s Real Madrid; for now, it’s Vinicius’s Real Madrid. If Mbappé doesn’t look fit to take a penalty, he’s not fit to wear the team’s colors high.” In our editorial office, the former Parisian was rated 4 while, for its part, the newspaper L’Équipe is however optimistic, giving him a score of 5 and stating that the Frenchman “can keep his Ballon d’Or dreams alive.” He will still have to show more.
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