It was a far cry from the World Cup two years ago, and Kylian Mbappe (26, Real Madrid) hasn’t escaped criticism.
“Was Mbappe at the Euros? The Real Madrid freshman didn’t stand out at the tournament. A nose injury in the first game and wearing a mask do not justify a poor performance that is far from his reputation or career.”
Mbappe is undoubtedly a world-class striker, capable of playing both on the flanks and in the center, with explosive speed, dribbling ability, and a cannonball shot. He is the number one favorite to win the next Ballon d’Or and has been a mainstay for the French national team and PSG.
His record at PSG alone is staggering. Since joining PSG on loan in 2017, Mbappe has scored 255 goals and provided 108 assists in 306 official games. Unsurprisingly, he’s the most prolific scorer in the club’s history.
He’s been named Ligue 1’s top scorer six times.
Mbappe has also been an ace for the French national team, lifting the trophy at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and reaching the final at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Mbappe was on fire in the final, scoring a hat-trick, but the team finished runners-up to Lionel Messi’s Argentina after a penalty shootout.
Still, Mbappe was the top scorer with eight goals and two assists in seven games, earning him the Golden Boot and the Silver Ball. Mbappe has now scored 12 goals in two World Cups. His career A-match record is 48 goals in 84 games.
However, he was notably weak at the Euros. Mbappe also played in the last UEFA Euro 2020, but he was silent, scoring zero goals and one assist in four games. 안전놀이터 He was also the last kicker in the penalty shootout against Switzerland in the round of 16, but he missed, causing France to be eliminated.
Euro 2024 was no different.
Mbappe suffered a broken nose in the first game and was forced to play the rest of the tournament with a face mask. He scored his Euro debut from the penalty spot in the third group game against Poland, but that was it.
Mbappe was silent the rest of the way, finishing the tournament with a meager stat line of one goal and one assist. Not a single field goal. France also shook their heads in the quarterfinals, losing 1-2 to Spain.
Mbappe was disappointed. “We wanted to be European champions, but it didn’t happen,” he said. In football, you are either good or bad. I was the latter. This tournament is a failure. But this is football. We have to move on. Now I’m going to go on vacation and rest. I will come back stronger,” he promised.
Sport had some harsh words for Mbappe. “Expectations were high. The spotlight was on him. The media talked for hours about Mbappe’s present and future. The world had tipped him as Messi’s successor. Real Madrid fans wringing their hands after seven years of waiting for him. And then, nothing. Mbappe’s euro has left a complete blank,” it pointed out.
The outlet continued:
“Bad start and bad end. For Mbappe, this Euro will always be a bad memory. It’s true that he started the first game and contributed to his team’s victory by scoring an own goal, but everything went wrong when he suffered a nose injury.”
Mbappe returned with a mask after only one game off. But the shine was gone. “Mbappe’s star quality and genius was never on display,” said Sport. “There were hopes that he would get better, but he didn’t. He continued to be frustrated, unable to cope with the discomfort of the mask and opted for a change,” said Sport.
Mbappe eventually took the mask off in the quarterfinal against Spain, but was unable to make his presence felt and had to watch as the ’16-year-old supernova’ Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) scored a wonder goal. Sport wrote: “Mbappe started brightly, assisting Kolo Moani’s goal, but was again a nobody. He wasn’t even close to scoring. Yamal lit the fire and Mbappe couldn’t turn things around,” emphasizing that “when no one is as good as Yamal at the Euros and the undisputed star Mbappe is shipwrecked, the future is not what people expect.”