Despite the rout (0-4) suffered by his former club during the recent Clasico, Cristiano Ronaldo must have laughed a little. Because the stainless 39-year-old Portuguese striker was mocked at Euro 2024 for finishing the competition at the top of the ranking of players most often reported offside. Ultimate record seeker, Kylian Mbappé found a way to equal this “performance” (eight offsides), but in a single match (and what a match) against FC Barcelona.
Ridiculed by the flawless alignment of the band at Hansi Flick, the captain of the Blues saw Pau Cubarsi and co haunt his nights around Halloween. The Liga match in Valencia having been postponed on Saturday due to the terrible floods in Spain, “Kyky” has been mulling over this affront for ten days, while AC Milan presents itself this Tuesday (9 p.m.) in the Champions League.
AC Milan is a pioneer in this area with Sacchi
We might as well tell you that Paulo Fonseca, who must have already appreciated during his two seasons in France the six offsides of Kylian Mbappé (with certainly a quintuplet) against the diabolical defense of the Pays de Cassel (Regional 1), could seriously inspire the Catalan strategy for this C1 shock at Santiago Bernabeu. 11th best team in the competition in this little game, with 8 caused offsides, and 18th in Europe this season (27 offsides), AC Milan is certainly very far from Barça (16 caused offsides in C1 and …83 in La Liga!).
But the temptation could be there, given the speed displayed by the Madrid number 9 and therefore his gross placement shortcomings displayed in his deep calls on October 26. Add to that a scent of history, since the Rossoneri gained part of their former glory by relying on this offside trap, with Arrigo Sacchi as the final architect. From 1987 to 1991, the legendary Italian coach was the precursor of a daring defensive tactic around Franco Baresi, having notably offered a little hand of anthology during the C1 semi-final in 1989… against Real Madrid!
Mbappé stuck between Ciro Immobile and Moise Kean
As Opta noted in the wake of the Clasico, never in eight years (and the Italian center forward Ciro Immobile) has a player from the European Top 5 reached the trifle of eight offside positions in a single match . Historically mocked for his (vain) attempts at direct free kicks and for his paltry number of kilometers covered (another 8 km against Barça), Kylian Mbappé therefore finds himself trolled for his propensity to be offside like a prime Bridesmaids Shirts.
Our file on Kylian Mbappé
So much so that after having accustomed us to rather reasonable averages at PSG (from 0.83 to 1.12 offside per match), the kid from Bondy is off to a record start this season (18 reports, an average of 1.29, it is true largely polluted by the match against Barça). The only striker capable of keeping up the crazy pace in the European Top 5 is Moise Kean (also 18). Given the career trajectory of the ex-PSG player, now at Fiorentina, it is not certain that this is a good sign for Kylian Mbappé.
