Mbappé's 'annus horribilis': booed at the Bernabéu and hounded in France

BarcelonaNothing is going as expected for Kylian Mbappé in 2025. The French striker left Paris thinking he could win it all in Madrid, but the adventure, which started well with the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 2024, has given way to a 2025 in which nothing is going his way. annus horribilis In which, despite being Real Madrid's top scorer, he has seen his dream of winning the Champions League for the first time, a tournament he has never won at the age of 26, fade away. Now he needs to win the Copa del Rey in a match that is doubtful due to the ankle injury he suffered in his team's defeat to Arsenal in Europe.

The Copa del Rey was probably the title Mbappé was least thinking about. He wanted to win La Liga, a title that has become very difficult for Los Blancos, and especially the Champions League. The poor tie against Arsenal, however, has left an open wound between the former PSG player and his new fans, who timidly whistled him when he left the pitch injured against the English team. A wound that opened up a little more a few days later, when during the match against Athletic Club he was focused on by the cameras in a VIP box at the Santiago Bernabéu. The fans in the stadium, seeing him, whistled even more.

Mbappé scored twice against Leganés on March 29, when Los Blancos were still hoping to complete the treble, but a five-match scoring streak began immediately afterward. in which he had Antonio Blanco sent off for a foul which only resulted in a one-match ban despite his toughness. He served his suspension against Athletic Club, a match in which he was already injured. That action in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in which he dug his studs into Blanco, was so obvious that not even Real Madrid fans defended him. An unusual move for a player who hadn't seen a red card since May 2018, when he stepped on the leg of a Rennes player in extra time of the French Cup final.

Mbappé has gone from being cheered by a crowd that had been waiting for him for years to being booed. That's why those close to the player admit that he wants to reach the Cup final no matter what and stand out, because a good performance against Barça would allow him to turn things around. In both official matches against Flick's team this season, Mbappé has scored one goal, both in the League Cup and in the traumatic 5-2 defeat in the Super Cup final. In fact, in both matches the script was similar: Mbappé thought everything would go well and it ended in the worst possible way. In the La Liga match, he scored a goal that he celebrated a lot, before discovering he was offside. Then Barça thrashed 0-4. In the Super Cup, he scored the goal that made it 1-0 five minutes in, but Madrid was immediately erased from the pitch.

Nothing is going right for Mbappé, who has also been questioned in France, where he hasn't played every game with the national team this season to prioritize Madrid. As if that weren't enough, Mbappé is now persona non grata in the city of Caen. Over a year ago, he decided to embark on a career as an investor, becoming the majority shareholder of Caen—a historic French football club that played in the Second Division—through his company, Interconnected Ventures. But instead of leading Caen to the First Division, the team has been relegated to the Third Division for the first time in 30 years, amidst insults from fans directed at him. Caen has become the worst professional team in France this season, with just five wins. The erratic transfer policy led the team captain to make statements complaining about the lack of professional structure and the poor squad construction. Amid banners in the stadium reading "Mbappé, we're not all your toy," Caen was relegated to the Third Division, including a pitch invasion by local radicals, which ended in destruction.

After seeing nothing go his way, Mbappé wants the Cup final to be the turning point. He didn't want to be included in the Getafe squad to avoid taking risks and, in theory, he's aiming to start at La Cartuja after 10 days without playing. He has scored seven goals for Barça in six matches in the past, both with PSG and Real Madrid. However, most of those goals came when he was playing for the French champions. Since arriving in Madrid, things haven't been going his way. The season of the "smoke and smoke," in which he finally signed for Real Madrid just as Florentino Pérez wanted, has given way to a annus horribilis.