Kylian Mbappe was labeled as the ‘biggest culprit’ after Barcelona won El Clasico

It was an El Clasico debut to forget for Kylian Mbappe after Real Madrid were beaten 4-0 by Barcelona on Saturday, with pundits pointing out the “ridiculousness” of the Frenchman’s display and one claiming he was “playing against himself”.

Mbappe had two goals disallowed for offside against Barcelona and was caught offside a remarkable eight times throughout the game. Heavy defeat means real madrid they are now six points behind Barcelona in LaLiga after 11 games.

And while there will be a lot for Carlo Ancelotti to wrap his head around, the performance of Mbappe when all eyes were on him it was questioned.

Speaking further ESPN FCCraig Burley has effectively blasted Real Madrid for “ripping up the plan” from their double-winning team to land Mbappe.

Burley said: “When someone is caught offside as much and we talked about it all game, ridiculous in the end. Ridiculous. To continue to be in offside positions when you have that level of understanding of the game and experience. He was not the only one, but the biggest culprit.

“I suppose a lot has happened at Real Madrid. If you’re signing these Galacticos, these big stars, you’ve got to somehow find a way to get them right. But basically they took, again, another side that was fluid and very successful and they ripped that plan and moved a lot of people around to try and make it work for Kylian Mbappe.

“And yes, I’m only a few points behind, but I’ve seen all the performances, I’ve seen the games. So far, it’s not working.

“They didn’t have any midfielders trying to break an offside trap and they had a guy who tried to break it for 95 minutes and couldn’t do it.”

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“Maybe they’re not as good as we all thought”

Former Real Madrid winger Steve McManaman was also baffled by Mbappe’s constant offsides and suggested he and his team-mates might not be as good as everyone thought.

McManaman explained: “It’s going to be a huge post-mortem. Kylian Mbappe looked like he couldn’t play after all. He just lacked all kinds of confidence.

“Madrid were everywhere, it was a very strange performance in the second half.

“Even in the five minutes from the end, Mbappe keeps running offside. It’s unbelievable that we’re having this conversation about one of the world’s greatest players, with blistering pace, he couldn’t keep up on the pitch.

“It was incredible to see and watch and it really brings you back down to earth when you look at these humbling experiences because maybe they’re not as good as we all thought.

“Yes, visually, remarkable, but tonight, on the biggest stage, in the first Clasico, when it looked like they could score after 20 minutes in the first half, Madrid found themselves lacking, and it’s a very strange scenario. .

“You don’t want to go on about how bad Real Madrid were, because it’s disrespectful to Barcelona. They went there on a youth night and ran all over Real Madrid.

“It was a really stellar performance so you have to say incredibly well done to Hansi Flick for being brave to play this style of football against Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe but he came away with a fantastic win with 4-0.

Mbappe ‘playing against himself’

As for why Mbappe struggled so much, former USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann claimed he was “over-motivated” – but there were other issues with the players’ positions.

Klinsmann concluded: “This whole process will take time and he almost played against himself because he was just over-motivated in my opinion.

“They have to grow together. They have Vinicius Junior, Mbappe, (Jude) Bellingham – the position he was playing didn’t work at all; could have made a big difference in my opinion if he played behind the strikers in a number 10 role.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us for Carlo, but this does it.”

Real Madrid must wait until next Saturday to try and put things right when they visit Valencia for their next LaLiga game.

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