Real Madrid vs Alaves: Mbappe is never Ronaldo

Kylian Mbappe is temporarily at the top of the Champions League scoring list with 15 goals, but Real Madrid halted in the quarter-finals.

In La Liga, the French forward is also the top scorer with 23 goals, but the Galaxy is trailing its arch-rival Barcelona by 9 points and has little chance of winning the championship as the season has only 7 rounds left, including tonight's match against Alaves.

The Example of Ronaldo

Of course, forwards are defined by the number of goals they score. But numbers become meaningless if they are not concretely reflected in collective titles. Ronaldo is a symbol of success at Bernabeu. But the Portuguese forward defined his career in some aspects by his "independence" from the clubs he played for.

At his peak, this legend also went through several years setting scoring records without winning titles. There are reasons for this, mainly due to competition with another legend of his time, Lionel Messi. The 41-year-old star's pursuit of the current milestone of scoring 1,000 goals proves that.

Mbappe has never hidden his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo, whom he photographed with in 2015 during a visit to Valdebebas. Even on his debut day as a Real Madrid player, he mentioned his idol. That was a tribute to Ronaldo.

He came here aiming to win all titles and become the owner of the Ballon d'Or award. In short, number 10 came here to become the world's greatest player. But after nearly two seasons in Madrid, apart from goals, he only won the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 2024. These less-mentioned cups were overshadowed by failures in major tournaments that impact long-term careers.

Mbappe may not be responsible for the club's failure, considering he won the La Liga top scorer title in his first season and also the European Golden Boot in the same season.

On the other hand, in the overall chaos at Bernabeu, it is hard to conclude that the 27-year-old forward did not create the revolution President Florentino Perez expected him to achieve. But clearly, the goals and titles number 10 won do not satisfy or hold much value for the club's long-term sports strategy.

Mbappe's Vicious Cycle

"It's not over yet," is the message coming from the dressing room at Bernabeu. Ultimately, at any cost, Mbappe must prove the team's presence in the championship race, and there is no other way than scoring to help Real win, including the return Classic at Camp Nou.

In the past, Ronaldo won the Pichichi three times in the seasons 2011, 2014, and 2015, however, the champions in those seasons were Barca and Atletico. The number of goals number 7 scored in those three seasons were 40, 31, and 48 in La Liga respectively. Those were also the three seasons where the Portuguese star also won the European Golden Boot title.

But it is very difficult for Mbappe to win the title in the old continent, as Harry Kane is far ahead of him by 9 goals on this list with 32 goals in Bundesliga. Of course, Mbappe could completely catch up or surpass him as he has 7 matches left, while Harry Kane only has 4, provided the English forward does not score any more goals in the remaining matches and Mbappe scores at least an average of 2 goals per match.

Ronaldo's scoring efficiency when playing for Real was an average of 1.02 goals per 90 minutes, the similar figure for Mbappe currently is 0.85, 0.17 goals less per match. The difference is also reflected in each player's resources. While Ronaldo scored with both feet and with his head, Mbappe's finishing ability is mainly concentrated on his right foot, accounting for 74.2% of his goals for Real. His heading ratio is quite poor for a central forward, only reaching 2%, while accuracy using his left foot drops to 9.2%. That raises doubts about him surpassing Kane.