Kylian Mbappé has suffered firsthand the weight of the Real Madrid jersey. The Frenchman’s season has been well below expectations, and the Merengue fans have already shown their discontent at the Santiago Bernabéu. After a difficult start to the campaign, he seemed to be taking off in 2025, but in the decisive moments of the season, he has disappeared. The Copa del Rey final is a new opportunity for him, but his performance will be measured to the millimeter.
Kylian Mbappé and his season
Kylian Mbappé fulfilled a dream when he signed for Real Madrid. He had seen from afar what this club is all about, its ambition, its demands, but you don’t really realize it until you arrive, and no one is prepared for it, but only the best manage to overcome it. His arrival at Real Madrid was the culmination of seven years in which Florentino Pérez did everything possible to see him in white, but of course, that has set the bar very high, at the level of the chosen few.
The Frenchman had a difficult start with the team. He struggled to adapt and his anxiety to prove himself worked against him. The turning point came against Athletic Club back in December. The player acknowledged that he had hit rock bottom and that it was time to step up, and he did. Little by little, he began to resemble the player we saw with PSG and France, and in March, he reached his best form with the team.
It seemed that he was close to reaching his peak at the most anticipated moment of the year, but in April, when he was expected to finally explode, he faded again. At the important moments, when footballers called upon to make history at the club begin to take their first steps towards becoming legends, when leaders become leaders, he fell.
The elimination against Arsenal, the photo of his withdrawal from the field with fifteen minutes to go, sums up his first year in white. The Bernabéu did not forgive him and booed him when he was substituted, showing no mercy despite him leaving the field injured. He has not been seen on the field since that day, but he is back for the Copa del Rey final, with a new opportunity, but it is a poisoned chalice.
Mbappé and Barcelona
Kylian Mbappé is preparing for the Copa del Rey final as if it were the most important competition of his life. Barcelona is one of his favorite victims in the PSG jersey, he knows he will have his chances in the final, and he knows he cannot fail, that this has to be the day. The disappointment he suffered on the day against Arsenal was a hard blow, another one for a player who in recent years has seen how he has been unable to win a Champions League, a player who comes from losing a World Cup final despite scoring a hat-trick, a player who has always known how to get back up.
The Copa del Rey final is a new opportunity to prove that he is destined to be a Real Madrid player, but it could also be a very hard blow for the player. He has been singled out by the Real Madrid fans, and that weighs heavily on him. But far from being intimidated, Mbappé is convinced that he can be decisive in the final, that he can help the team lift their first trophy of the season despite not being the favorites. Mbappé is facing his second big night as a Real Madrid player. He failed in his first, we will see what happens in his second.