Real Madrid have begun the 2024-25 season on a positive note. Even though the performances during the first two months of the season have been a mixed bag, with a feeling that this team is yet to unlock its full potential, the results have been there. 10 games, seven wins, three draws, and no defeats.
Add to that the UEFA Super Cup trophy to kick off the season, and the arrival of Kylian Mbappé to an already very strong outfit. Things don’t look as bleak as they have been made to be.
Speaking of Mbappé, the general consensus among the Madridistas and the media has been that the Frenchman is still finding his feet within Carlo Ancelotti’s system.
Ancelotti fired Real Madrid to the double last season, employing a 4-4-2 tactical scheme with Vini Jr. and Rodrygo as the strikers and Jude Bellingham decoying as a false 9.
Things are different this term, though, with the Italian mastermind returning to his favoured 4-3-3 formation to incorporate the attacking quadrumvirate of Mbappé, Vini, Rodrygo, and Bellingham.
Vini Jr., a potential Ballon D’Or winner waiting to be crowned at the end of this month, continues to reign over the left wing spot. The ‘franchise player’, as he has been called since Karim Benzema’s departure in 2023, continues to hold his status as the face of the club, even after the arrival of Mbappé.
The former PSG man plays as a centre-forward with liberty to switch positions with the two Brazilians either side of him, creating a fluid offensive system which has seen Mbappé score seven goals in nine games in all competitions,
Mbappé is starting to endear the Real Madrid faithful, but the reigning European champions will have their task cut out this season. A lot will rest on the France skipper’s shoulders if Real Madrid are to defend their titles.
Keeping everything in mind, here are five bold predictions for Mbappé in his debut campaign at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Kylian Mbappé will become the first Real Madrid player to score 50 goals since Cristiano Ronaldo
It might be a stretch, but do not count out the possibility of Mbappé actually netting at least 50 goals for Real Madrid in all competitions this season. The 25-year-old has already scored seven goals this term, and there’s still a lot of football to be played.
To be precise, if Real Madrid do reach the finals of the all the cup competitions (Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup), then the team will be playing as many as 73 games in all competitions.
Let’s assume that Mbappé plays in 65 of those games (provided he remains fit). Then, at the current rate, he’ll end the season with 51 goals. The last time a player eclipsed the 50-goal mark in a season for Real Madrid was in the 2015-16 season, when Mbappé’s idol Cristiano Ronaldo scored 51 goals in 48 games. Maybe Mbappé was destined to follow in the footsteps of his mercurial idol.
Kylian Mbappé will get more than 20 assists in all competitions
While Mbappé is known to be a prolific goalscorer on par with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, the former Monaco prodigy is also an efficient creator in the final third. Mbappé registered an astounding 108 assists in just 308 games with PSG.
This season, he’ll be surrounded by the likes of Vini Jr., Rodrygo, and Bellingham, who are lethal finishers, too. As Mbappé develops more and more chemistry with his fellow teammates, expect him to share the burden of creating goals and not just scoring them.
Kylian Mbappé will set a season-high record for most shots attempted
In seven league games played, Mbappé has attempted 36 shots, which is the most by any player in Europe top five leagues this season. Mbappé might not have scored a lot of goals so far, but the signs are there for him to unleash his wrath and explode into a transcendental player for Los Blancos.
In the previous season, Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane attempted 141 shots, the most by any player in Europe’s top five leagues, while Darwin Núñez of Liverpool led in most shots taken per 90 (4.70), per stats from FBRef.
Mbappé has attempted 5.35 shots per 90, which means that he’s on course to beat the previous season’s records by a comfortable margin. The goals will come in a flurry. It’s just a matter of time.
A demolition job at the Montjuïc
Barcelona have made a fiery start to life under their new manager Hansi Flick, with the Catalans scoring 31 goals in 10 games, winning eight of those. They currently sit atop the LaLiga table and deserve an early shout for one of the favourites to clinch the Champions League trophy.
However, they haven’t been tested by a big team yet, while it must also be noted that they are missing the services of several first team players such as Fermin Lopez, Gavi, Andreas Christensen, and Ronald Araújo. It’s clearly not a full-strength team yet, but Flick has worked wonders so far.
While some may raise their eyebrows at this prediction, we can totally expect Mbappé to break the Catalan hearts at their temporary home, the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, when the two teams clash in May 2025.
Mbappé scored a sensational hat-trick against Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 against PSG in the 2020-21 season, becoming the first visiting player since Andriy Shevchenko in 1997 to score three goals at the Camp Nou.
Mbappé loves to play against Barcelona. This time around, though, he’ll be facing them in the all-whites of Real Madrid. The magnitude of the game and the rivalry will surely fuel the club’s new No. 9 even more, especially in front of their rivals’ own fans.
Kylian Mbappé will fire Real Madrid to their 16th European Cup
The one major piece of silverware missing from Mbappé’s trophy cabinet at club level is the coveted Champions League.
By joining Real Madrid, he has come closer than ever at fulfilling his ambition of winning Europe’s most prestigious club competition, something he failed to do with Monaco and PSG after coming agonisingly close.
Real Madrid find pride in calling themselves “Reyes de Europa”, Spanish for Kings of Europe. And rightfully so. They have won more than twice as many titles in the competition than any other club and are currently the defending champions.
Mbappé can truly establish himself as one of the legends of the game even before hitting the age of 30, and that would be by firing the Merengues to their record-16th Champions League title at the end of the season.
An ardent sports fan, Parshva grew up watching cricket and dreaming of becoming a cricketer in Mumbai. While he couldn’t become a cricketer, he channeled his passion for sports by writing about it. Parshva started writing in 2019, covering both cricket and football. Over the years, he has featured for Sportskeeda (covering both football and cricket), The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Managing Madrid covering Real Madrid’s women team, GOAL as a football writer, MARCA English, and The Sporting News primarily covering cricket. Parshva has also recorded a few football podcasts and featured on one of India’s biggest radio stations, Red FM 93.5, covering the India vs South Africa game at the 2022 T20 World Cup.