Mbappe’s El Clasico Nightmare: 8km of Inaction Exposes Real’s Defensive Achilles Heel
Real Madrid’s biggest problem in recent times has been criticism of Kylian Mbappe, the best in the world.
Real lost 0-4 in the 2024-25 Spanish La Liga 11th round home game El Clasico against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain on October 27.
It was a shocking defeat. Real collapse in 258th El Clasico, their 101st loss (105 wins, 52 draws). And 2 years and 7 months from March 2022, 4 goals were conceded in El Clasico.
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Real has to lose more. La Liga’s 42-game unbeaten streak has ended. 397 days after losing to Atletico Madrid in September 2023. El Clasico’s 4-game winning streak ends.
Mbappe’s decline was also disappointing. He missed two crucial chances and was offside eight times, which didn’t help him. He even opened the scoring twice for Barcelona, but both were ruled out for offside.
Mbappe’s activity level was as disappointing as the offside in his El Clasico slump. Real was less active than Barcelona that day. Analysis from Real showed he ran 10 kilometers less than Barcelona. And Mbappe ran only 8 km.
“Coach Ancelotti’s top priority is to improve the defense,” said Spanish media outlet Llevo. “It starts from the front line, and Mbappe’s impact has not met expectations,” he said, adding, “Mbappe ran a total of 8 kilometers in El Clasico. This is the lowest level among strikers. “Most athletes run more than 10km, and at most 12-13km,” he noted.
That doesn’t mean Mbappe runs less and scores more goals. A total of 8 goals were scored this season, but 3 goals were penalty kicks. And in the league with 6 goals in 4th place. There is a gap of 8 goals in total with the first place Roberto Lewandowski (14 goals).
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However, Mbappe’s 8 goals is not a small number. 6 league goals can’t be called bad either. The problem is that he needs to increase his scoring production because he isn’t trying on defense, but the results aren’t coming. Considering Mbappe’s name value, his current scoring record is certainly disappointing.
Even with Mbappe playing less, the defensive burden eventually shifts to his teammates. “Lelevo” also emphasized this part, “If Mbappe neglects the defense, the burden on the other players will inevitably increase. “Then there is the problem with Real’s defensive style,” he noted.
Jude Bellingham is one of the players affected by Mbappe’s underplay. His defensive burden is greater than ever, thereby reducing his influence in attack. He was close to the opponent’s goal until last season. However, with the addition of Mbappe this season, they have fallen behind in depth and as a result, have not scored a single goal.
Even if the world’s best players are brought together, synergy effects cannot be achieved without details such as distribution of roles and organization of movement routes. The current Real Madrid certainly consists of the best players in the world, but they are not showing 100% of their strength. El Clasico defeat explains this.
In the end, this is a problem that coach Ancelotti will have to solve. The start is Mbappe’s increased activity level.
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[민준구 MK스포츠 기자]