Mbappé and the night everything went wrong

Kylian Mbappé found almost every possible way not to score at La Cartuja against Real Betis. He ran into defenders, goalkeeper Álvaro Valles and the crossbar. Then, with a final chance from the penalty spot, he ran into Valles again.

The string of missed opportunities made the Real Madrid striker the face of his team’s first defeat of the season. The night began to turn shortly before halftime, when Vinícius broke behind the defense and chose to set up Mbappé instead of finishing. The chance seemed certain, but Mbappé needed two attempts and neither reached the net. Betis cleared both almost on the line.

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When someone goes to take the penalty, we all go together.

His luck did not change after the break. Huijsen recovered the ball and found Mbappé in a good position, but the forward could not settle the ball and Valles blocked him again. After Parrott put Betis ahead, Madrid pushed for an equalizer. In the 85th minute, Mbappé had another excellent chance inside the area, but the crossbar sent his shot back.

The most painful opportunity came in stoppage time. Natan brought down Vinícius, and Mbappé placed the ball on the penalty spot with a chance to rescue a draw. Valles guessed correctly and saved the kick. Bartra cleared the rebound, while VAR confirmed there was no reason to retake the penalty.

The numbers showed the scale of the waste. Managing Madrid calculated that Real Madrid generated 3.16 expected goals, a measure of the quality of chances and the number of goals similar opportunities usually produce. Mbappé accounted for 1.78 of that total by himself, yet finished without scoring. Madrid’s 3.16 expected goals were also its highest total without a goal since the metric began being recorded at the start of the 2020-21 season.

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We created a lot, many shots, and we missed three or four clear chances. Their goalkeeper was outstanding.

Mourinho refused to put the defeat on Mbappé alone. “When someone goes to take the penalty, we all go together,” he said. The Portuguese coach argued that the problem began earlier, saying, “We created a lot, many shots, and we missed three or four clear chances. Their goalkeeper was outstanding.”

“Sometimes you lose and you don’t know why; sometimes you lose and you don’t know how to explain it,” Mourinho said. His explanation nevertheless ended close to Valles’s goal, where Mbappé’s missed chances had defined Madrid’s night.

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Sometimes you lose and you don’t know why; sometimes you lose and you don’t know how to explain it.