Mbappé, the lonely penitent, by Santiago Segurola

The inscrutable paths of football led at the Bernabéu to a match of opposite extremes, between the sweep of injuries in Real Madrid and the fervent response of the team, which crushed Osasuna. The drama unfolded when Rodrygo, Militão and Lucas Vázquez left the field, the Brazilian center back on a stretcher, with a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee, a year after suffering the same injury to his left knee. Everything that could have gone wrong for Madrid worsened – heavy defeats against Barça and Milan at the Bernabéu, Carvajal’s serious injury, Courtois’ relapses, lack of strength in defense – but the magnitude of the problems activated the team’s nervous system. , who understood the moment as an electroshock. Everyone understood it, except Mbappé.

Madrid came out of the game with a pill of great successes: they beat Osasuna, Vinicius achieved a hat trick Bellingham scored his first goal this season, the discussed Lunin drew a wonderful pass to the Brazilian forward in the play of the third goal and the center back Asencio, substitute for Militão, debuted and landed in the First Division with the 40-meter send that preceded another of Vinícius’ goals.

In the midst of the turmoil that fueled the match, Mbappé remained a solitary penitent, oblivious to what was happening around him. Ancelotti retired Vinícius and Bellingham in the second half, but kept the Frenchman. He had half an hour to make numbers and get on the team’s train, but against a rival despondent by goals, Mbappé added new elements to his delicate situation, defined by acute discomfort.

In May 2023, Mbappé preferred to remain at PSG and not force a transfer to Real Madrid, which offered 200 million for the player, no less than in the last year of his contract with the Parisian club. They were not buoyant days in Madrid. Beaten by Barça in the League and beaten by Manchester City in the European Cup semi-final, Madrid, or its social environment, viewed Mbappé’s decision as an intolerable affront. Nothing suggested the sensational season that awaited the team, which only incorporated one starter: Bellingham, whose impact was immediate.

Madrid won the League and the European Cup and Vinícius established himself as a legitimate Ballon d’Or contender, as did Bellingham, whose production earned comparisons to Di Stéfano. In Paris, Mbappé returned to another of PSG’s frustrating seasons. He decided to sign for Real Madrid, although the landscape had changed radically.

He did not arrive as an undisputed boss. It wasn’t even certain that he was the best player on the team. Vinícius, who occupied his same position on the field, had become a world star. Bellingham embodied the ideal of the player dreamed of by Real Madrid fans. The team had won the two main competitions of the 23-24 calendar. That feeling of being against the law has been accentuated since he joined Madrid.

Although no one forgets the category of the player destined to succeed Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Mbappé faces an aspect of football that he was unaware of, the dark side of things.

In the eyes of the people, Mbappé is the player who goes offside eight times against Barça, does not make shots, emits constant signs of frustration, shrinks in adversity, accepts a subsidiary position with respect to Vinícius, who occupies the place on the field and in the hierarchy that should correspond to the Frenchman, subject to criticism in his country that accuses him of disaffection with the national team, exacerbated by the coach’s refusal to call him up in the next two international matches. In what should be considered the prime of his career, he goes through the most unpleasant period. Against Osasuna, in a revitalizing match for the team, Mbappé further staged his crisis.