Kylian Mbappe blasted as ‘biggest culprit’ after Barcelona humble Real Madrid in El Clasico

It was a debut El Clasico to forget for Kylian Mbappe after Real Madrid were thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona on Saturday, with pundits pointing out what was ‘ridiculous’ about the Frenchman’s display and one claiming he was ‘playing against himself’.

Mbappe had two goals ruled out for offside against Barcelona and was remarkably caught offside eight times across the whole game. The heavy defeat means Real Madrid are now six points behind Barcelona in LaLiga after 11 games.

And while there will be plenty for Carlo Ancelotti to get his head around, the performance of Mbappe when all eyes were on him has been questioned.

Speaking on ESPN FC, Craig Burley effectively blasted Real Madrid for having ‘ripped up the blueprint’ of their double-winning side to fit Mbappe in.

Burley said: “When somebody’s getting caught offside as much as that, and we’ve talked about it all game, ridiculous in the end. Ridiculous. To continue to be in offside positions, when you have that level of understanding of the game and experience. He wasn’t the only one, but the biggest culprit.

“I suppose at Real Madrid it’s happened a lot. You sign these Galacticos, these big stars, you’ve got to sort of find a way to get it right. But they’ve basically taken, again, another side that was fluid and very successful and ripped up that blueprint and moved a load of people around to try and make it work for Kylian Mbappe.

“And yes, they’re only a few points behind, but we’ve seen all the performances, we’ve seen the games. Thus far, it is not working.

“They had no midfield runners to try and break an offside trap, and they had one guy who was trying to break it for 95 minutes, and he couldn’t do it.”

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‘Maybe they’re not as good as we all thought’

Ex-Real Madrid winger Steve McManaman was also baffled by Mbappe’s constant offsides and suggested he and his teammates might not be as good as everyone was thinking.

McManaman explained: “It’ll be a huge post-mortem. Kylian Mbappe looked as if he couldn’t play in the end. He was just bereft of all kinds of confidence.

“Madrid were all over the place, it was a very strange performance in that second half.

“Even in the five minutes to go, Mbappe still running offside. It’s incredible that we’re having this conversation about one of the world’s greatest players, with blistering pace, he could not keep himself onside.

“It was incredible to see and to watch and it sort of brings you back down to earth really, when you look at these humbling experiences, because maybe they’re not as good as we all thought.

“Yes, at glimpses, outstanding, but tonight, on the biggest stage, in his first Clasico, when it looked as if they could score at will after 20 minutes in the first half, Madrid were found wanting, and it’s a very strange scenario.

“You don’t want to go on about how bad Real Madrid were being, because that’s disrespectful to Barcelona. They went there on a night with youngsters and they just ran all over Real Madrid.

“It was a really stellar performance so you’d have to say incredibly well done to Hansi Flick, because he’s brave playing that style of football against Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe, but he’s walked away with a fantastic 4-0 victory.

Mbappe ‘playing against himself’

As for the reason why Mbappe struggled so much, former USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann claimed he was ‘over-motivated’ – but there were other problems with players’ positions.

Klinsmann concluded: “This whole process will take time and he was pretty much playing against himself because he was simply over-motivated in my opinion.

“They need to grow together. They have Vinicius Junior, Mbappe, [Jude] Bellingham – the position he was playing was not working out at all; he could have made a big difference in my opinion if he played behind the strikers in a number 10 role.

“There’s a lot of work ahead for Carlo, but that’s what he’s doing.”

Real Madrid have to wait until next Saturday to try and put things right when they visit Valencia for their next LaLiga match.

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