Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. have started the 2026 World Cup with a bang despite a tricky year.
At the moment, it feels inconceivable that Real Madrid should want either Kylian Mbappé or Vinicius Jr. to leave. On Friday night, Vinicius Jr. scored to cap off a 3-0 win over Haiti, taking the Brazil star up to two goals in two games. He’s one of fourteen players to score multiple goals in North America this summer, notably alongside Madrid teammate Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé, however, only needed one game. Admittedly, he had something of a slow start against Senegal on Tuesday, passing up multiple chances until breaking the deadlock in the 66th minute. However, the Frenchman, too, offered a blunt reminder of his talents. First, he finished neatly past goalkeeper Édouard Mendy from a tight angle; thirty minutes later, he blasted the ball from long range to dash any hopes of a late Senegal comeback.
Mbappé and Vinicius are, without a doubt, two of the best players in the world. You need only watch them to come to this conclusion. Yet, together, the two have won nothing of importance. In 2024, shortly after Mbappé first joined after years of waiting, he scooped up the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. No further trophies have followed. For a club of Real Madrid’s stature, that is unacceptable.
There are, of course, other factors. The same summer that Mbappé arrived in Madrid, German manager Hansi Flick took over at FC Barcelona. Flick has completely turned Barcelona around, leading them to back-to-back La Liga titles. In Europe, PSG have become a juggernaut, winning back-to-back Champions League titles.
Madrid, meanwhile, have lacked stability as club legends have poured out the door. Toni Kroos and Nacho Fernández exited in the summer of 2024. Carlo Ancelotti and Luka Modrić followed the next summer, and Ancelotti’s replacements, Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa, failed to make a lasting impact. This summer, David Alaba and Dani Carvajal are also headed towards the exit.
Looking at individual stats, nothing appears out of the ordinary. Vinicius Jr. has more goal contributions in all competitions in his two seasons with Mbappé than in his second-place Ballon d’Or finish season, albeit in significantly more games. The Frenchman, meanwhile, has 43 goals in each of his two seasons in Spain, both the second-most of his career.
In La Liga, though, the attack has regressed, with nine and ten fewer goals since Mbappé joined than in the 2023/2024 season before he arrived. It’s easy to notice the lack of enthusiasm the Frenchman has for defending, or that he and Vinicius often take up similar positions on the field. The drama off the field has not helped either, capped off by the creation of a viral anti-Mbappé petition. As of writing, the petition, which is bluntly called Mbappé Out, has 96 million signatures.
The Champions League has really highlighted the shortcomings of the Madrid attack. Over two legs against Bayern Munich, the Madrid duo took a whopping twenty shots combined. Just two of those were goals, with Mbappé scoring both. In the end, Madrid came close, thanks to a brace from Arda Güler, but were defeated by an efficient Bayern attack that scored six goals over two legs. Madrid’s, by comparison, was wasteful.
Bayern’s attack, coming into this season, did not have nearly the same pedigree as Madrid’s. Luis Díaz was never the star of Liverpool and was widely thought to be an overpay. Harry Kane had almost always failed to get across the line when it mattered most. Michael Olise was a star, but a star who had played for Crystal Palace just over a year earlier. Yet, the attack was borderline unstoppable this season, and Kane now finds himself as a top Ballon d’Or candidate.
This is where Madrid fall short. It’s no secret that, under Florentino Pérez, Real Madrid have always pursued stars. However, in the past, there was always a certain balance to the attack, whether it came from Karim Benzema or Gareth Bale. That is obviously missing in the current team. Unsurprisingly, when they join their national teams and play next to Olises and Raphinhas, they are world-class again.
Madrid had the solution fall right into their laps this season when Gonzalo García emerged at the Club World Cup. García felt like the perfect unselfish number nine that the club needed, and even plays like Benzema to a certain extent. He barely got any minutes this season, missed the Spain squad, and now looks destined for the exit.
This summer, Madrid have again been bailed out. Endrick has returned from a successful loan in France with Lyon, and, capable of playing centrally or on the right, is a natural fit in this attack. Despite this, Madrid have spent this summer chasing high-profile attackers such as Julián Alvarez and Olise, neither of whom will be moving to Los Blancos. This is a team that remains, either by choice or by ignorance, unaware of the real problems.
It’s still hard to see a world where either Mbappé or Vinicius leaves this summer. Mbappé is the crown jewel of Pérez, the latest Galáctico, the star Madrid pursued for so long. Vinicius, although he was signed for €46 million, feels almost like a talent out of La Fábrica, the Madrid academy. He’s been with the club so long and helped them achieve so much that it’s hard to picture him anywhere else.
This is still a problem. Vinicius is out of contract next summer and has reportedly been considering options elsewhere. Mbappé is under contract until 2029, but remains very unpopular with a big chunk of the fanbase. In any instance, another season without a major trophy is unacceptable, and Mbappé and Vinicius are yet to show they can win together. Perhaps more concerning for Madrid, they continue to show they can win alone while with their countries.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that the two are both aware of this as they take the pitch in North America. Mbappé already has a brace, something he hasn’t done in La Liga since January. Vinicius scored in consecutive games, which he did three times in La Liga this season. The two are away from each other and away from Madrid, and finding their top level again. This is both reassuring and yet very problematic for Real Madrid.
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Image via fff.fr.
