Alonso's protector
The first “poker” came with a public and strong message from Kylian Mbappe : “We players have to protect the team, the coach and the coaching staff.”
A profound statement in the context of Xabi Alonso being put in the center of attention, when lists appeared classifying Real Madrid players into disgruntled groups and groups supporting the coach.
As for Mbappe, up to now, there has been no sign that he is on the opposing side. As for Alonso, every time he is asked about Kiki's scoring efficiency, he always replies that he is very satisfied.
More importantly, for Alonso , is Mbappe's positive influence on the whole team. "His personality, his leadership, his way of working every day... those are intangible values that create cohesion."
The praise is hardly hollow in the current climate, where there is as much talk about the dressing room atmosphere as there is about technical matters.
Their messages after the match marked another statistical milestone for Mbappe, with the numbers reaching record levels.
He has never scored 4 goals in a Champions League match, an achievement that Real Madrid's history previously recorded only Alfredo Di Stefano (2 times), Ferenc Puskas (2) and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The explosion also brought him to the best scoring start of his career. According to Opta data, it is the first time the France captain has scored 22 goals in the first 18 games of a season for a single club.
This figure far exceeds his previous personal record at PSG of 18 goals in 18 matches in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.
Before December, Mbappe had scored half of last season's goals; more than half of the team's total goals this season were his (22/40); and in the last three matches he has been "silent", Real Madrid have not won.
The dependence is obvious to everyone, but Mbappe – who is very skillful in diplomatic statements – reacted immediately when asked about this.
“Depends? That's a bad question. Everyone has their own job. My job is to score goals. Let's not talk about that, let's say Kylian doesn't score goals ,” he replied.
This is not the first time he has scored four goals in a game. He did it against Lyon in 2018, against Kazakhstan in 2021 with France, and even scored five goals against Pays de Cassel in the French Cup in 2023.
However, there was one standout detail in the win over Olympiacos: 4 shots on target, all 4 of which were goals. Mbappe has been prolific this season: nearly half of his shots on target have been goals (22/45).
Outstanding performance
Last week, Xabi Alonso called on other players to share the scoring burden to avoid falling into a “monoculture” of Mbappe. Against Olympiacos, what happened was the combination of Mbappe – Vinicius Junior .
Vinicius had a special match, making 15 dribbles, 8 successful, and assisting 2 goals for Mbappe. What does this number mean? In the match in Greece alone, Vini had double the total number of passes that he has given to Kiki since the beginning of the season.
This detail clearly exposes the long way the duo still have to go in blending their styles, which is also Alonso's task. Before the match, Vinicius had gone 9 consecutive matches without an assist.
Coach Luis Mendilibar pointed out the key to the pair causing Olympiacos nightmares: “They hurt us because they rested a lot when we had the ball. The other eight were the ones defending and running. When they got the ball back, they were fresh to attack you in behind.”
This comment hits the big issue Alonso is trying to address: the level of defensive involvement of strikers.
That day, "Professor" Xabi constantly reminded his students to maintain their formation and not let the lines get too far apart - something that is often neglected.
Criticized in recent matches for losing connection with the game, Mbappe chose to allocate his energy reasonably and optimize each touch of the ball.
In the Champions League, he ran 8.6 km less than Tchouameni despite playing the same number of minutes. In the Olympiacos match, he was the Real Madrid player with the fewest touches (42). That was enough for him to score 4 goals.
Madridistas are waiting for another explosion from Mbappe when he comes to Catalunya, meeting Girona (3am on December 1).
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/kylian-mbappe-ghi-ban-ky-luc-ve-si-cua-xabi-alonso-o-real-madrid-2467693.html
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