Football: Missed penalty, loss of ball… Mbappé in full doubt

However, there was a (small) clearing last Sunday in the sky over Leganés, a suburb of Madrid, where the French striker found the net again, served on a plate by Vinicius.

But it was ultimately in a thick fog that he left the legendary pitch of Anfield, in Liverpool, at the end of a failed match, unable to make the difference and bring his team back into the game while he had the opportunity on a poorly taken penalty and repelled by Kelleher (61st). And this despite the absence of Vinicius. The Parisian was greatly awaited in the absence of Vinicius.

“It is only those who take their responsibilities who can fail,” tried to explain Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, without a solution to relaunch his team, reigning European champion but in great danger in C1 after this third defeat in five days.

“It was a very important moment in the match, but these things happen. He’s a wonderful player, but the pressure around him because of his talent is enormous. The penalty is not the reason for our defeat. Kylian can hold his head high. I am convinced that he will produce moments of history for this club,” also launched his teammate Jude Bellingham.

However, it is indeed the photo of his bad fall, his head against the lawn, after a shoulder hit from the Dutch colossus Virgil Van Dijk, which is used everywhere on social networks and in the press to illustrate his “sinking”, with only one shot on target, in the 88th minute, 15 lost balls, and only six duels out of thirteen won.

Imprecise and muzzled by the young Conor Bradley, 21, in his left lane, Mbappé is logically targeted by the Spanish press, mercilessly after this new missed meeting.

“It is obvious that Kylian Mbappé today is not even a shadow of the player he has been in recent years. Things do not go as he wants and the crisis of confidence from which he suffers devours him until he becomes an unrecognizable footballer,” believes the daily. Markdeploring the fact that the French striker did not seize “the great opportunity” to shine on the European scene in the absence of Vinicius.

“He came for these kinds of evenings. And he didn’t show up. He was not a leader, he did not shine. He was not Vinicius, and continues not to be Mbappé,” says his competitor ASwhich awarded it the extremely rare score of 1/10.

Assailed by questions about his No. 9, Carlo Ancelotti once again came to his defense. “When you are a striker you want to score and have confidence. I think that for Mbappé, it’s a difficult moment. We will support him and give him love,” declared the Italian technician, assuring that there was “only one cure” for the illness that was gnawing at the ex-Paris Saint-Germain star: “ patience.”

A speech that is less and less audible in the Spanish capital, where the name of the Argentinian Santiago Solari, current director of Madrid Football, present in the delegation to Leganés alongside its president Florentino Pérez, is starting to circulate to replace Ancelotti, in less temporarily.