Mbappé’s dream turned into a nightmare. He left the Arsenal match injured, booed by the crowd and with another chance to become European champion gone. It seems that the Champions League and the French player are not meant to be. He came to Real Madrid in search of that dream, and at the first opportunity, the team was exposed and eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Mbappé’s history in the Champions League is not a fruitful one. The Frenchman’s nine attempts to win the Champions League have all ended in failure. Winning the Champions League was his obsession during the seven years he spent at his hometown club, PSG. And it remains so now, at the most successful team in the history of the competition. The Frenchman will have to wait for his tenth attempt.
In recent weeks, Kylian Mbappé has seen his performances drop and seems to have ‘written himself out’ of the season after making a senseless tackle against Deportivo Alavés that earned him a red card and starting the game against Arsenal with more heart than head, only to end up retiring with a sprain.
Against Arsenal, he started off very focused, driving the ball forward and involved in the game from the outset, but he faded as the minutes passed, perhaps after the penalty he gave away, which, after just six minutes, was quickly overturned by VAR. From that moment on, everything began to go downhill until his injury.
Kylian Mbappé had the opportunity to experience a magical night for the first time at the Santiago Bernabéu and wanted to be one of the stars of the evening. The French kid who dreamed of playing for Real Madrid on big Champions League nights had the chance to fulfill one of his many dreams in white, and he was more motivated than ever to prove that he had come to the club to make history.
Mbappé’s nine attempts
His first attempt was in the 2016-17 season. Juventus knocked Monaco out in the semifinals. In nine games, Mbappé scored six goals at the age of 17. In the 2017-18 season, Real Madrid knocked the Frenchman out in the round of 16 in his first year in Paris. In the 2018-19 season, he fell to Manchester United in the round of 16. A debacle.
2019-20, PSG lost to Bayern in the final. The pandemic season was when Mbappé came closest to becoming European champion. A year later, in 2020-21, it was Manchester City in the semifinals that ended the French player’s dream.
In 2021-22, Real Madrid once again crossed paths with Mbappé in the round of 16, eliminating PSG. Once again, the French team fell in the round of 16 a year later in the 2022-23 season against Bayern. Finally, last season, 2023-24, Luis Enrique’s team fell in the semifinals to Borussia Dortmund, who would eventually succumb in the final to Real Madrid, who this year have not made it past the quarterfinals with Mbappé in their ranks.