Kylian Mbappe’s red-hot form only continued during the team’s recent win over Leganes in La Liga.
The Frenchman, who has come to life after a rocky start in Spain, has been scoring goals for fun and once again put two goals past the relegation-threatened side at the weekend.
One of his strikes, in fact, came from a free-kick marking his first such goal at the senior level. While there is significant debate over whether or not it should be considered a set-piece goal, the fact remains that he displayed tremendous quality with his strike.
As relayed in a recent report by El Chiringuito, Real Madrid plan to make Mbappe their set-piece specialist and want him to take charge of stepping up from here on.
The club, after all, have been without a default set-piece taker for a while now. The last specialist penalty-taker they had was Karim Benzema and the last free-kick specialist was Toni Kroos.
In Mbappe, Real Madrid see a player who can step up for both types of set-pieces, something Cristiano Ronaldo was known for during his time at the club.
Considering that the young World Cup winner recently bettered Ronaldo’s first-season numbers for the Merengues, it would be an ideal time to hand over the responsibility on his shoulders.
Over the years, Mbappe has established himself as a deadly penalty taker. He hardly ever falters under pressure and scored against Emiliano Martinez twice from the spot in the FIFA World Cup final in 2022.
In his entire career so far, the striker has scored 48 penalties and missed 12. Of them, he has scored six times from the spot for Real Madrid and missed twice – against Athletic Club and Liverpool.
The 26-year-old superstar has a lot to learn on the free-kick front but it is only a matter of time before he picks up the skill and is given opportunities. After all, he showed what he is capable of from a distance just last weekend.