Thierry Henry has insisted Kylian Mbappe must “play better” after the Real Madrid striker failed to score against Borussia Dortmund.
Mbappe has scored eight goals in 13 appearances for his new club but has been told that it’s not enough just to score by compatriot Henry, who understands the pressure of playing for one of Spain’s biggest clubs.
Henry doesn’t believe Real Madrid have seen the best of Mbappe yet and warned the 25-year-old that he won’t have much time to win the fans over.
Mbappe has the backing of his team-mates, but he’s adjusting to finding himself in a position where he isn’t the main man.
Vinicius Junior stole the headlines in Real’s 5-2 win against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday and, while many predict a sustained era of Madrid dominance once their new attack gets into its stride, it’s taken a bit of time for that to come to fruition, with Henry claiming that the France international must “play better”.
Not Enough
“He’s scoring goals but he’s not playing as well, so that’s what they’re going to call out,” Henry said on CBS Sports Golazo.
“If you play really well and you don’t score goals, they say ‘yeah you play really well but you don’t score goals’.
“We can talk about [Erling] Haaland to an extent; he scores goals but we always say ‘he could do a bit better with his back to the net and how he can link up with players’, and stuff like that.
“So it comes with how you deal with being a Real Madrid player.
“It’s very difficult but it comes with the shirt.
“And you have to deal with that.
“Is he playing the best that we’ve seen him play from his days at Paris Saint-Germain?
“No, but he still has to learn – and I know it’s weird to say that – or play better as a nine, which is very difficult for him at the minute.
“But he’s scoring goals and it’s not enough at times in clubs like that.
“Although the Clasico’s around the corner, they’re three points behind Barcelona so you never know what can happen.
“I’m going to play devil’s advocate.
“We always usually say it takes time for a player to adapt to a new club but unfortunately when you wear that jersey they don’t give you a lot of time.”
Read more: Pulisic Hailed After ‘Crazy’ Olimpico Goal For Milan
A goal or two against Barcelona on Saturday evening will go a long way to silencing the critics, who may have forgotten that we’re only a few days removed from Mbappe scoring his best goal yet for Real Madrid.
Highlights From 2024 Felabration
