Kylian Mbappé’s first El Clásico didn’t go as hoped, as Real Madrid endured a tough 4-0 defeat to FC Barcelona on Saturday night at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Mbappé grabbed attention, though not for the best reasons. The match was scoreless until the 31st minute when he thought he had given Madrid the lead, but VAR called the goal off due to an offside.
Offside proved to be a recurring setback for the former Paris Saint-Germain forward. According to StatMuse on X, Mbappé was flagged offside eight times—more than any player in a LaLiga match over the past decade.
To make matters worse, Real Madrid had to watch Barcelona celebrate four times, as the visitors netted all their goals in the second half. Veteran Robert Lewandowski scored twice in quick succession in the 54th and 56th minutes. Lamine Yamal added another in the 77th, and Raphinha closed out the game with a final goal in the 84th minute.
On the latest PSG Talking Extra Time podcast, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Johnson stated what the Frenchman must to amid a struggling start to his tenure at Real Madrid.
"Obviously, they were missing a handful of players they lost [Dani] Carvajal recently for the season," Johnson said. "[David] Alaba is still not back. [Thibaut] Courtois was out as well in goal. Big absences."
"But I do think that this is what I was expecting Real to look like with Mbappé thrown into the mix. I think at this moment Mbappé is going to take a lot of stuff back to basics, not just with Real, but with the French national team as well."