Kylian Mbappe hasn’t stopped scoring goals for France throughout the World Cup. He hasn’t always been able to quell the criticism for Real Madrid.
One of the most perplexing contradictions of this World Cup is that, ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final matchup with Spain in Dallas, France captain Mbappe is blazing as brilliantly as ever for Les Bleus.
Just a few weeks after concluding a tumultuous second season at Real Madrid that saw both individual brilliance and team failure, Mbappe is in outstanding form in the United States. In the two years since Mbappe joined Real Madrid in 2024, the team has not taken home a significant prize.
However, the Spanish powerhouses have now broken the previous mark of 18 goals shared by Hungary’s Honved (1954), Bayern Munich (2014), and Paris Saint-Germain (2022) with a record 19 goals so far in the World Cup. Surprisingly, not a single member of the 36-time La Liga winners, Spain, is among the Real Madrid players who have scored in this World Cup.
Jude Bellingham of England has contributed significantly to Madrid’s goal total with six goals, but Mbappe, who has scored eight goals and is tied with Lionel Messi at the top of the World Cup scoring statistics, is mostly responsible. At the World Cup, which he dominated as a youngster during France’s 2018 title run in Russia, Mbappe, 27, appeared to be at the pinnacle of his abilities.
Four years after Les Blues’ heartbreaking loss in the 2022 final in Qatar, Mbappe is committed to producing a third star for the team, just like France coach Didier Deschamps and the rest of the French team.
Mbappe’s performance in the World Cup hasn’t done much to allay the criticism he received in Madrid during the end of the season for allegedly putting his country before his club, which some saw as footballing lese-majeste.
Mbappe’s second season at the team he joined with the intention of winning the Champions League was disappointing, characterized by a La Liga championship race loss to Barcelona and an early Champions League departure at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Even though he scored 42 goals in 44 appearances, including 25 in the league, to claim the Pichichi medal as La Liga’s top scorer for the second consecutive season, his extraordinary individual stats did not spare him conflict at a club where titles are the only thing that matters.
Real Madrid supporters will be hoping the Frenchman can lead their squad the same way he is leading France in the World Cup.
