Kylian Mbappe's far-from-ideal start to life with Real Madrid continued after Tuesday's 3-1 defeat at home to Milan in the UEFA Champions League inflicted a second league phase loss on the defending titleholders at Santiago Bernabeu. Malick Thiaw, Alvaro Morata and Tijani Reijnders did the damage for the visiting Rossoneri in the Spanish capital to win a throwback continental clash between two of European soccer's oldest powers which hands head coach Paulo Fonseca a big boost.
It was another frustrating outing for Mbappe who played the full 90 minutes but was well marshaled by the Milanese backline and denied on occasion by fellow France international Mike Maignan as he tried to drag Carlo Ancelotti's men back into proceedings. Vinicius Junior provided Real's consolation goal when the Brazilian temporarily equalized from the penalty spot after 23 minutes which itself showed that Mbappe is far from being Los Blancos' go-to star when the chips are down just yet.
Antonio Rudiger did look to have pulled one back late on but it was ruled out for offside in the final 10 minutes but the hosts were far from dominant and ended up being shocked by the Christian Pulisic-inspired Italian visitors. Mbappe's latest showing leaves him on eight goals from 14 outings since his arrival from Paris Saint-Germain but just one goal from his past six games comes as former Real star and ex-France teammate Karim Benzema has publicly criticized the 25-year-old.
"The problem, in my opinion, is that [Mbappe] is not a central striker, even with the national team, every time he plays as a number nine he doesn't feel right, because that is not his position," Benzema told El Chiringuito. "On the left, he has got a guy who is at the same level as him, Vinicius, so there is a problem, you cannot play Vinicius as a number nine or on the right, because when he plays on the left he makes the difference in every game. Mbappe is not a real number nine. People ask a lot of him and he is under a lot of pressure, this is not PSG."
Ancelotti favors Vini Jr. on the left which gives Mbappe no choice but to play through the middle and although the clash between the two-star players was predictable stylistically it has also added to what has been a very tricky start to life in Madrid for the Frenchman. Benzema is the Spanish giants' second all-time record goal scorer behind Cristiano Ronaldo which Mbappe will seek to better over time but this is arguably the first real crisis period of the ex-AS Monaco man's superstar period of his career.
"Do not give up, because I do not think he is going to push Vinicius to move," Benzema offered Mbappe as advice. "He is the best player in the world at the moment. Mbappe needs to get it into his head that today he is a number nine, and forget about the left flank for a while." Despite the former France international's opinion, though, it was Manchester City's Rodri who was voted the recent Ballon d'Or winner which Mbappe was nowhere near after a disappointing 2024 with both PSG and Les Bleus.
Benzema won five Champions League and four La Liga titles in a 14-season stint at Santiago Bernabeu and had to endure early periods of doubt before winning over even the most ardent of doubters. He even admitted that "if you go two or three games without a goal, you are going to have a lot of problems," and Mbappe is certainly sampling that right now in this sluggish period of form. A spectral outing in El Clasico a Real lost their 42-game unbeaten run in La Liga to Barcelona in humiliating fashion 4-0 only rubs salt into already open wounds.
Perhaps there is a large degree of truth to what Benzema is saying although it will not be appreciated right now given how difficult this first half of the new season is proving to be for Los Merengues. The sooner Mbappe can heed that advice the better as his compatriot is an example of how long it can take to truly find your feet with Real and that was in an era where there was far more patience in the game than there is today.