Kylian Mbappe was slammed by popular French national sports newspaper L’Equipe following his poor display against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.
The World Cup-winner had a night to forget in the 2-0 Anfield defeat, missing a crucial penalty at 1-0. Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo were on the scoresheet while Los Blancos players failed to make a meaningful dent in L’Equipe’s famously harsh player ratings. The news outlet has only issued 15 10/10 performances since the 1980s, highlighting its no-nonsense approach to performance scoring.
Nevertheless, Mbappe only registered two shots in 90 minutes and had the lowest pass completion rate (75 per cent) of any outfield player. As a former captain of Paris Saint-Germain and the current skipper of France Mbappe was naturally put under the microscope by French media. L’Equipe scored Mbappe at a shocking 2/10. It made him the joint-worst player involved along with team-mates Arda Guler and Ferland Mendy, who gave away a penalty kick. Jude Bellingham, Luka Modric and Brahim Diaz, meanwhile each only scored 3/10.
Meanwhile, the ratings issued to Liverpool’s players ranged between 5/10 and 7/10, with Conor Bradley and Mac Allister scoring highest. Discussing Mbappe’s poor performance, L’Equipe said that he struggled in the absence of Vinicius Junior and that he “has still not been able to assume the role of leader of the Madrid attack that falls to him”.
Mbappe has now failed to score in seven of his last nine games for Madrid, having netted in six of his first nine. After 18 appearances for Los Merengues he has nine goals in total. Carlo Ancelotti’s men now occupy the the final qualifying spot in 24th, two points behind Celtic with the same goal difference of zero.