With 23 goals in La Liga and another 13 in the Champions League, Kylian Mbappe is having another incredible season as the main striker at Real Madrid. But how successful he is at the Santiago Bernabeu will be measured just as much by the trophies the Merengues win as it will be measured by the goals he scores or individual accolades the 2024/25 European Golden Boot winner accrues.
Although Madridistas have to be happy with Mbappe's scoring record and ability to create chances for himself and others, even if the assists shroud his average of over two key passes per game, there is still a lot of criticism for Mbappe not tracking back enough. Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes, Karim Benzema, and all the other highly successful Real Madrid forwards of the last handful of years were willing to track back, and the ones who could not, like Eden Hazard, got discarded even by Carlo Ancelotti.
In an interview with The Bridge, Kylian Mbappe finally got real about the impact failing to track back has on Real Madrid and said that he is not bothered by those who criticize his defensive work, calling it "constructive criticism".
Kylian Mbappe needs to track back
Mbappe said, "I'm a player that defends a little less than others, and sometimes that can be a problem. It's true that I do it less, but I notice that when I do it, it really impacts the team. At Madrid, when I'm doing it, you can really see that everyone else is doing it. It's true that I'm often criticized for that, and that doesn't bother me, because that's constructive criticism."
As they always say, the first step is admitting that there is a problem. The second step is resolving it. The positive here is that Mbappe knows he needs to track back and set that example for the team, especially since there is such a big difference in how Real play when the entire team defends; it was the hallmark of the two teams of the 2020s that have won the Champions League.
However, now, he has to do it and not just do it here and there or in the big games but do it consistently. The biggest difference between Barcelona under Hansi Flick and Real Madrid right now - and why Real are not winning the league - is Barca consistently play as a team and defend as a team with intensity every single week. Real Madrid need to do that, and it all starts with the superstar of the team in Mbappe.