“I don’t see him doing well there” - Josip Ilicic explains why it’s ‘impossible’ for Kylian Mbappe to be like Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid
Former Atalanta striker Josip Ilicic has explained why Kylian Mbappe won't replicate Cristiano Ronaldo's exploits at Real Madrid. The Frenchman arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu this summer but has struggled to get going.
Mbappe, 25, had spent seven prolific seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, amassing over 250 goals. However, the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner has scored just 11 times in 21 outings across competitions, missing two penalties recently, with Madrid losing both games.
The No. 9 has looked out of touch and confidence in an unfamiliar centre-forward role, as he has mostly thrived on the left wing, currently occupied by Vinicius Junior. Explaining Mbappe's struggles to match Ronaldo's numbers at Madrid, Ilicic told AS (via GOAL):
"I think there is a fundamental error. In Mbappe's role, there's already a player at Madrid who almost won the Ballon d'Or. And they had to adapt Mbappe as a centre-forward. I don't see him doing well there. You can tell he's always looking to open up where Vini is. And honestly I expected that.
"He is suffering a lot as a striker. He has less space and little support to free himself. Then add enormous pressure and expectations to this. People expected to see him do what Cristiano did, and that is impossible.
He concluded:
"Messi and he (Ronaldo) were from another planet. In France, moreover, he (Mbappe) felt more defended. In Madrid, the expectations are something else. If you don't score goals, you're deemed worthless."
Mbappe returned to goalscoring ways in Real Madrid's 3-0 La Liga win at Girona at the weekend, which took them to within two points of leaders Barcelona with a game in hand.
A look at Cristiano Ronaldo's numbers at Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the best players to grace the beautiful game. He's the most prolific goalscorer in history, with a record 916 strikes for club and country.
Nearly half of those goals - 450 - came in nine hugely successful seasons with Real Madrid between 2009 and 2018. The Portugal captain carved out records galore during his Santiago Bernabeu stint, becoming the first player to breach the 40-goal mark in La Liga.
He also became the first to score 100 times in the UEFA Champions League, net that many times for a single club in the competition and also become the first to score for two different winning teams in the final.
Now at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, Cristiano Ronaldo is still going strong, netting 16 times across competitions this season.