Kylian Mbappé is enjoying his first season at Real Madrid. In fourteen matches, the French striker found the net eight times in addition to providing two assists. But the former PSG player is struggling to fully establish himself within the Madrid squad, and even suffered whistles during the Clasico lost against Barça. For Karim Benzema, the difficulties encountered by his former teammate with the Blues are very easily explained.
“The problem is that Mbappé is not a center forward,” explains Benzema in the show El Chiringuito. “He is not a number 9. Even in the France team, he did not play his best matches in this position. Quite simply because it is not his best position. But the problem is that on the left there is a boy who looks like him. At the same level, Vinicius. So there is a problem…”
For the Al-Ittihad striker, Mbappé will have to find his place because Vinicius will not move. “Vini never plays in the center or on the right, because in every match he makes the difference on the left. », Confides Benzema. “At Real, they need to make Mbappé understand that he is now a ‘9’ and that he forgets the left. He was always very good when he was on the left, but now you have to be very good elsewhere on the pitch. I understand people, they expect a lot of things from him. There is a lot of pressure, it’s not PSG. »
Speaking of pressure, Benzema knows something about it, having played for Real Madrid and managed to win the Ballon d’Or in 2022. “If you don’t score a goal for two or three games, they will kill you », he says. “You can win the Golden Ball or whatever you want, if you go three games without scoring… He has to learn to live with the pressure, which is very strong at Real Madrid. He has to put this pressure on himself every match. He has to score goals, they brought him in to score goals only. He has the level and he has everything to achieve it. »
Belgium
