Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Real Madrid, stated on Monday that he prefers forward Kylian Mbappe to concentrate on goal-scoring rather than exerting pressure to support the group.
The previous Paris Saint-Germain sensation arrived this summer, and the European and Spanish champions have not performed to their full potential this season.
They are still figuring out how to best use him. Last season, Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final, which they won to secure a record-tying 15th European title. On Tuesday, they will play Borussia Dortmund at home.
“I prefer that (Mbappe) scores goals than he presses,” Ancelotti told a news conference.
“The central striker position in our team has not changed, I ask him the same I asked of Karim (Benzema, who left in 2023).
“To be well positioned and to be ready every time we get the ball back to make a rapid transition.”
This season, Mbappe has scored eight goals for Real Madrid in 12 games across all competitions, compared to 14 goals in 12 appearances for Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski.
After recovering from a thigh injury, the attacker faced criticism in his native country for not participating in France’s recent Nations League games.
Following a trip to Stockholm during the international break, Mbappe was reportedly the subject of an investigation by Swedish media regarding an alleged rape.
Mbappe dismissed the reports as “fake news”. Jude Bellingham, who led Los Blancos in scoring the previous campaign, will play a more defensive role as a result of Mbappe’s transfer to Real Madrid.
The former midfielder for Borussia Dortmund scored 10 goals in his first 10 games last season, but he hasn’t scored for the team in nine games this season.
“We’re satisfied with his work… because he works a lot on the pitch, he’s always there, he competes, fights, sacrifices himself,” said Ancelotti.
“The truth is he hasn’t scored the goals he did last year, but the surprise isn’t this year, it’s last year, he scored a heap of goals that no-one expected.
“We’ve always scored goals and we’ll always score goals, we have players with great attacking talent up front… so for us at this moment, the work he is doing is much more important for us.”
Ancelotti claimed that Madrid enjoys playing end-to-end games because of their wealth of attacking players, which also includes Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes.
“I want (rock and roll football) because I have players with these characteristics,” continued Ancelotti.
“We find it harder to play a game based on possession and control because we don’t have players with characteristics to play in reduced spaces.
“A back and forth game suits us well, but we’re focussed on defending better as we did very well last year.”
