Kylian Mbappe opens up about reasons behind early season struggles with Real Madrid and France

Kylian Mbappe signed as a free agent for Real Madrid at the start of the 2024-25 season, but his early performances for both the Spanish club and the France national team raised concerns. Now back with the national team, Mbappe has opened up about the reasons behind his struggles earlier in the season.

Regarded as one of the best players in the world, Mbappe was unable to deliver on that status for much of the early campaign, struggling for form at Real Madrid and facing what coach Didier Deschamps described as “mental issues” that led to his exclusion from the French squad. In an interview with Le Parisien, the French star reflected on the difficult moments:

“This isn’t the first time I’ve gone through something like this. It’s just that my status is different now, and so are the expectations and the repercussions. I’ve been through other tough times, but they were talked about less because I didn’t have the same status. Yes, I’ve understood that. I keep saying that what’s changed is everything around me, the way people look at me, more than me, because at first, I had a hard time.”

When asked about the underlying causes for his struggles, Mbappe cited several factors: “A Euros you don’t win, where you don’t play well; a season finale at PSG where you play much less,” he explained. “It’s a combination of things — injuries, poor performances, things I haven’t experienced much in my career, and it forces you to work hard to become the player you know you can be,” he added.

Mbappe acknowledged that his turnaround wasn’t the result of a single turning point, but a gradual process: “I don’t know if there was a turning point; it came gradually. I started playing better in matches, scoring goals again, becoming more instinctive in my play, more incisive, more persuasive, more connected. I started feeling good at the end of November or beginning of December, and things have been going well for the last three or four months.”

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This timeline matches when Mbappe, after missing a penalty in a 2-1 defeat to Athletic Bilbao on December 4, famously said, “I hit rock bottom.” Since that moment, the striker has bounced back to reclaim his place as one of the best players in the world.

Mbappe at his best

Compared to his early-season struggles, Mbappe has now returned to form as one of the world’s top players. This is reflected not only in Real Madrid’s strong run across multiple competitions but also in the numbers and performances Mbappe has delivered recently.

Currently, Los Blancos are competing on all fronts — La Liga, UEFA Champions League, and Copa del Rey — and in every competition, Mbappe has made his mark. With 31 goals across all competitions, the French striker sits second in La Liga’s top scorers list, just two goals behind matching Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal tally from his debut season at Real Madrid.