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Benzema explained why Mbappe struggles at Real Madrid

Former striker and club’s great Karim Benzema explained that Kylian Mbappe has struggled at Real Madrid due to his unwillingness to play as a central striker.

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What Benzema said about Mbappe and Vinicius Jr

Kylian Mbappe must learn to play as a central striker at Real Madrid because he will not be able to displace Vinicius Junior on the left, according to Benzema, who won the 2022 Ballon d’Or as a Los Blancos striker.

Mbappe, who joined Real after his Paris St-Germain contract ended in July, has eight goals in 14 appearances for his new club but has scored just once in his past five games.

The 25-year-old’s favored position is on the left wing, but Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti has kept the 2024 Ballon d’Or Runner-up Vinicius in that position, forcing Mbappe to play centrally.

“The problem, in my opinion, is that [Mbappe] is not a central striker, even with the national team, every time he plays as a number nine he doesn’t feel right, because that’s not his position,” former France striker Benzema said on Spanish television show El Chiringuito.

“On the left, he’s got a guy who’s at the same level as him, Vinicius, so there is a problem, you can’t play Vinicius as a number nine or on the right, because when he plays on the left he makes the difference in every game.

“Mbappe isn’t a real number nine. People ask a lot of him and he’s under a lot of pressure, this isn’t Paris St-Germain.”

Benzema is Real’s second-highest scorer of all time, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Frenchman won the Ballon d’Or when at the club in 2022 before signing for Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad last year.

The 36-year-old, winner of five Champions Leagues and four La Liga titles during 14 seasons at the Bernabeu, warned Mbappe that “if you go two or three games without a goal, you’re going to have a lot of problems”.

Mbappe struggling at Madrid

In addition to scoring just once in the past five games, Mbappe failed to live up to the hype. Mbappe could not make an impact as Real’s 42-game unbeaten run in La Liga was ended by a horrendous 4-0 home defeat by rivals Barcelona. Los Blancos then suffered from back-to-back home defeat as AC Milan thrashed them at Bernabeu with a 3-1 result.

With that, Real Madrid have lost consecutive home games conceding at least three goals in each for the first time in all competitions since May 2009 under Juande Ramos (2-6 vs Barcelona and 1-3 vs Mallorca).

On his advice to Real’s present number nine, Benzema said: “Don’t give up, because I don’t think he’s going to push Vinicius to move. He’s the best player in the world at the moment.

“Mbappe needs to get it into his head that today he’s a number nine, and forget about the left flank for a while.”