Carlo Ancelotti acknowledges that star winger Kylian Mbappe is not at his best
Real Madrid head coach has come out in support of Kylian Mbappe, who is struggling to reach the high performance levels expected when he joined from Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappe missed a second straight penalty on Wednesday in Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Athletic Bilbao, having also had a spot kick saved by Caomhin Kelleher in the 2-0 Champions League defeat to Liverpool last week.
It was another performance from the Frenchman that failed to hit the heights against Bilbao, with Mbappe having scored eight LaLiga goals for the club this season and 10 in all competitions.
“He is at a lot more than just 1% [of his potential], but he’s not at his best,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“However, we have to give him time to adapt [to Real Madrid]. He has scored 10 goals and is working hard to improve and to do better.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet. It was a complicated, even, hard-fought, competitive game. We missed a penalty, I don’t evaluate a player’s game because of a missed penalty. Sometimes you score and sometimes you miss. Obviously he’s sad, disappointed, but we have to keep going.”
Real Madrid have now lost four of their last seven matches in all competitions and missed the chance to close the gap to leaders Barcelona, who are four points clear on 37 points having played a game more.
“The match was evenly-matched. Athletic are a very dangerous team, we competed and fought. I think the match was worth a draw,” Ancelotti said.
“But it is what it is. We’re still in contention and have to keep fighting. We could have got a better result, but we’re here and we have to think about Saturday’s game at Girona.”
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