Real Madrid very clearly need another RB after Kylian Mbappe’s demolition of Dani Carvajal

Well, that was the thing I was most worried about. Even though PSG played Real Madrid out of the park and executed their gameplan absolutely perfectly, there is one player that caused more trouble than others. Kylian Mbappe ran riots on the left side, and Dani Carvajal simply couldn’t deal with it.

I was originally going to include this in my takeaways for the game, but honestly, I’d much rather do a full-fledged article about it. This match-up scared me the most before the game. We all know the danger that Kylian Mbappe can cause. Maybe we kept the PSG game from two seasons ago in mind and gave it too much importance, because Mbappe has improved a lot since then, while Dani Carvajal has simply regressed, both in terms of fitness and as a player in general.

If you want me to be as blunt as possible, the fact of the matter is that Dani Carvajal was being TORCHED on the right by Kylian Mbappe. Every single sequence, each time Mbappe received the ball, he went past Dani Carvajal like he was an amateur player trying to guard him. And yes, credit to Mbappe, it was an other-worldly performance that may have solidified his spot as the best player in the world.

For Carvajal, though, it was the polar opposite.

Real Madrid cannot rely on Dani Carvajal anymore, for one reason or the other

In fact, I would go as far as to say this was probably the worst Carvajal game in memory, at least in my opinion. I try my best to remember worse performances, but none come to mind. I don’t remember Carvajal winning a single duel vs Mbappe, or even doing one thing right. It’s astonishing how bad he performed, and it had to be Mbappe that glorifies the Spaniard’s weaknesses and lack of fitness as a footballer.

Yes, Asensio didn’t really help Carvajal out, but even then, the level of performance that we saw from Carvajal was ridiculously and uncharacteristically low.

So, when Ancelotti finally noticed the struggles, what did he do? He brought on Carvajal’s replacement, his backup option, former right-winger Lucas Vazquez. Yep.

Can someone explain to me how one goes from Dani Carvajal to Lucas Vazquez when the task at hand is Kylian Mbappe? Surely there has to be someone in the team for situations like this, right?

It’s really sad to see but at the age of 29, Carvajal’s not among the world’s best in his position anymore. Based on pure talent, he probably is there, but that’s not the only thing that’s taken into consideration. It’s the execution, the fitness, there are so many things that you keep in mind, and I don’t know if Carvajal has what it takes to keep performing at the top level for a prolonged stretch of time.

Of course, I’m not basing it on just one game, but that one game plays a big part in it. Plus, you need to look at the Spaniard’s fitness records. I don’t know if you can say that it’s fine. It’s not! Real Madrid need to do something about it.

There’s a clear, dire need for a new right-back in the team. I’m not talking about a backup right-back that would never be good enough to start for the team. I don’t care about the fact that Carvajal has just signed a contract extension. There’s a need for a new, young, talented, fearless right-back in the squad that can not only challenge Carvajal for a spot in the line-up but also take it from him if he is not performing well.

Letting Achraf Hakimi go was something that Real Madrid had to do, but not using their right of first refusal last season was something that Real Madrid chose to do. The club will have to live with that. But, at the same time, they need to look for a great right-back that could finally get some production out of this right side, because I really don’t think you can fully rely on Carvajal as a player anymore, even if he does turn it around.

If he can stay healthy for the foreseeable future and improve his game, it’ll be good, but as I said, you’d just never know whether that will happen. It’s sad to see, but there are multiple issues, that can only be addressed one way and one way only.