Kylian Mbappé’s first El Clásico didn’t go as planned, as Real Madrid suffered a tough 4-0 loss to FC Barcelona on Saturday night at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Mbappé made headlines, though not for the best reasons. The game was scoreless until the 31st minute when he thought he had put Madrid ahead, only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR for offside.
Offside calls were a recurring issue for the former Paris Saint-Germain forward. StatMuse noted on X that Mbappé was flagged offside eight times, the most by any player in a LaLiga match in the past 10 seasons.
As if things couldn’t get worse for Mbappé and Real Madrid, they had to watch Barcelona celebrate four times after netting four second-half goals.
Veteran Robert Lewandowski struck twice in quick succession, scoring in the 54th and 56th minutes. Lamine Yamal added another in the 77th, and Raphinha sealed the game with a final blow in the 84th minute.
Real Madrid fans’ reaction Kylian Mbappé’s Offside Calls
Despite being early in the season, the former PSG player might be wearing Real Madrid fan’s patience as he adapts to a new squad and league. After the loss, ESPN FC’s Sid Lowe spoke about how the supporters reacted to the winger being caught offside on several occasions.
“It’s difficult to give you a really clear answer on that because I don’t think that we saw a unanimous reaction,” Lowe said Saturday on ESPN FC. “Obviously, the fundamental thing is we saw a frustration.
“I think the fundamental thing is we saw a sense of disbelief because if anybody should be finishing his chances often, if anybody should be able to know how to run a line, particularly, it’s Mbappé, not just because he’s obviously a brilliant forward and quite possibly the best player in the world, but also because of the nature of his game, the speed that he has, the awareness of that speed that he has, means that surely timing his runs is something that he has been through a million times in his career.
“There was, I think, a frustration and kind of a disbelief. There was a little bit of edgy as the game went on, a little bit of a sense of getting irritated with him, a little bit of a sense of thinking, ‘Come on, this is a really poor performance.’ But it didn’t reach the point, I don’t think, of people turning on him. I think it would be much too much to suggest that that was the case.”
