Difficult to explain how a player is capable of scoring three penalties in a World Cup final, against Argentina, one in regulation time, another in extra time and a third in the fateful shootout, and now shoot with so many doubts and crash twice in a row from eleven meters. Kylian Mbappé He caught the ball in San Mamés to shoot. He seemed safe, but he wasn’t that safe. He sent the ball to the left of With a certificate, but not decisively and the goalkeeper took it out in his stretch. Bellingham He was quick to console his companion, as he had already done in Anfield. And the exact same thing happened against Liverpool. Very similar shot that Kelleher cleared.
Beyond the two failures, Mbappé tiptoed through the game again. He was not the only one, because it is difficult to save anyone in Madrid, but he has been expected for a long time. The Frenchman tried, but he lacks the spark and determination, the fang that made his rivals tremble. Without Vinicius, he started on the left and was unsuccessful in the races he attempted. Almost always an opponent crossed his path and took the ball from him. Even so, he had two clear shots: in the first he scored but it was disallowed for offside. In the second half, Rodrygo made a good play on the left and put a good ball to Kylian, but his shot easily reached the goalkeeper with everything in favor for a good hit. Kylian had already gone on to play as a 9 with the entry of Brahim, but it didn’t improve much either.
Kylian has missed five of the last 14 penalties he has taken, with PSG he missed three, but at Madrid he has done less. He started scoring from eleven meters. He made three out of three, but now there are two failures in a row. Against Getafe, in fact, and after having failed at Anfield, he left the first shot to Bellingham, who did not forgive. I was going to give a second penalty to Rodrygo, but in the end it was not awarded. Ancelotti valued his “altruistic” gesture to rule out that Kylian lacked confidence. And the truth is that in San Mamés, with Rüdiger on the ground after the foul by the Athletic goalkeeper, he picked up the ball to shoot. But the ghost of Anfield appeared.
Belgium
