The stats behind Kylian Mbappe's nightmare Clasico debut

Kylian Mbappe is a player with lofty ambitions. Shortly after arriving at Real Madrid this summer, the Frenchman declared: "I don't want to score a goal and just go home."

A goal would have certainly helped during Real Madrid's humbling 4-0 loss against Barcelona in front of their own fans on Saturday. On a night when there were plenty of poor performances to choose from, Mbappe's display stood out for all the wrong reasons.

After an opening three months which has been satisfactory rather than spectacular, the first signs of dissent towards Mbappe have begun to tentatively emerge. Here's a closer look at the troubling numbers behind a showing which fell a long way short of the forward's high standards.

Jonathas de Jesus, a bruising Brazilian striker who has played for 20 clubs in eight countries, is not often mentioned in the same breath as Mbappe. The former Elche forward has earned his comparison as the only other player in recorded La Liga history to have been caught offside eight times in the same game.

Mbappe is not the first player to have been blunted by Barcelona's high line - they have provoked twice as many offsides as any club on the continent. But the lauded forward failed to adapt his runs to the challenge in front of him, continually mistiming his penetrative bursts.

To put Mbappe's eight offsides into context, Manchester City's Erling Haaland has been flagged a combined seven times across his last 40 Premier League appearances. Since 2015, only Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ciro Immobile have been caught offside in the same game as many as eight times across all of Europe's top five leagues.

Wasteful in front of goal

Kylian Mbappe did not make the most of his opportunities at the Santiago Bernabeu / David Ramos/GettyImages

Carlo Ancelotti let his mask of composure slip after a chastening evening. The Italian singled out his number nine's wastefulness, sniffing: "We knew that they played with a high line, and we just couldn't take advantage of it. Sometimes he fell offside, but he had three or four chances to score and needed a better finishing touch."

Mbappe had three legal shots on target yet still failed to officially get on the scoresheet. The last time the Frenchman had more saved attempts without scoring at club level was back in August 2019, when his wastefulness proved less costly in a 4-0 victory for Paris Saint-Germain.

After the triumphant 2024 Champions League final, Jude Bellingham speculated that Mbappe's impending arrival would provide "the only little thing that maybe we are missing: that clinical nine".

That clinical reputation has deserted Mbappe thus far. Only Atletico Madrid's Samuel Lino has recorded a larger negative disparity between his expected goals and actual strikes in La Liga this season than Mbappe, who would expect to have scored between two and three more goals than he actually has based on the chances he's been presented with.

Kylian Mbappe cut a lonely figure for much of Saturday's game / David Ramos/GettyImages

"Kylian does not need to be connected with the overall game," Mauricio Pochettino, Mbappe's former PSG coach, wrote for The Athletic before the 2022 World Cup. "He can be there for five or even ten minutes, not involved with his team, and then just appear, do something amazing, and win the match. If he doesn't touch the ball, he's relaxed."

Mbappe did not looked relaxed while skulking around in isolation for much of Saturday night. The fleet-footed striker registered just 25 touches, the fewest he has recorded in any start for Madrid this season.

Ancelotti is still trying to devise a setup to get the best out of his top-heavy squad. The clever tactician deployed a different formation for the third game running this weekend, lining Mbappe up alongside Vinicius at the sharp end of a 4-4-2. The Brazilian didn't get on the ball much more than his European teammate and is still getting used to the dramatic shift in gravity that Mbappe's arrival demands.

Humbling home loss

Kylian Mbappe has rarely suffered heavy defeats in his trophy-laden career / David Ramos/GettyImages

The perennial French champion with PSG is not used to many defeats - particularly one-sided affairs. Saturday's 4-0 shellacking was the heaviest home loss of Mbappe's entire career. Only once before has he lost by a four-goal margin at any venue - the Frenchman created PSG's equaliser before they were reduced to ten men and collapsed to a 5-1 reverse away to Lille in 2019.

Despite Madrid's recent dominance in this fixture, this was not their first heavy home defeat in El Clasico. As Ancelotti, who oversaw the hefty defeat in March 2022, was quick to point out post game: "The last time Real Madrid lost 0-4 to Barcelona, they won La Liga and the Champions League."

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