Since news emerged that Kylian Mbappe has told Paris Saint-Germain he intends to leave the club this summer, excitement and expectation have been building around Real Madrid.
But behind closed doors, Madrid officials — always careful when they speak — have, for some time, been even more measured in their words whenever they are asked to talk about the 25-year-old striker, who has known of the Spanish club’s latest offer to join them since early January.
What happened back in May 2022 — when Mbappe turned down Madrid, despite them thinking he had agreed to join — seems to have made an already hermetic club close even tighter around this extremely hot topic.
With anticipation building to new heights in this long-running transfer saga (one that has been already defined by its fair share of twists and turns), Madrid’s visit to Rayo Vallecano for Sunday’s La Liga match saw the subject of Mbappe’s future feature prominently once more. He wasn’t there, of course, but his name was in the air, his next step was very much discussed.
Madrid president Florentino Perez, who has been keen on playing a leading role in negotiations, did not attend the match because he travelled to Malaga to attend the Copa del Rey basketball final between Madrid and Barcelona. The executives who did attend, such as second vice-president Eduardo Fernandez de Blas and director of football Santiago Solari, preferred to talk to each other with their hands covering their mouths when in public, to avoid anyone reading their lips.
That is a fairly regular sight at Madrid games — another expression of the club’s discretion and desire to keep important topics under wraps. They have tried to keep everything to do with Mbappe away from the public eye.
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Madrid’s players, on the other hand, have always at least appeared more spontaneous and natural on the subject. On Thursday, just a few minutes after Mbappe’s decision became known, Aurelien Tchouameni, his France team-mate, posted a social media message with two popcorn box emojis. A day earlier, in an interview after Wednesday’s 1-0 Champions League win at RB Leipzig, Tchouameni admitted Madrid’s players were talking about Mbappe.
In the dressing room, including among members of the technical staff, optimism reigns on the subject of Mbappe — and on the future of the sporting project in general.
But unfortunately for Madrid, there was little such excitement around their performance on the pitch in Vallecas, as Carlo Ancelotti’s side drew 1-1 in a dull game. It was one of their most drab of the season so far.
Rayo had their new manager Inigo Perez in charge. He had worked with current Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola at Rayo and had provisionally been set to follow him to the Premier League, but never received his work permit.
Madrid manager Ancelotti rested Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos and Rodrygo. They were left on the bench, alongside Antonio Rudiger and Jude Bellingham, who are recovering from their respective injuries.
Despite the weakened line-up, Los Blancos had the game in their favour within three minutes when Joselu made it 1-0 on the counter-attack — Federico Valverde running down the right wing and crossing for the striker to finish for his eighth goal of the league campaign.
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It turned out to be something of a mirage, and in the 27th minute, former Madrid player Raul de Tomas converted a penalty to level the scores, which would not change for the rest of the evening.
It was an unconvincing display from Ancelotti’s side, with the home team outmatching them for intensity and effort. Looking short on concentration levels, Madrid were unable to fashion the kind of comeback that we have so often seen from them, even when not performing at their best.
Joselu scored his eighth La Liga goal of the season (Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
They finished with their worst passing accuracy of the season, with an 85 per cent success rate, and at times were unable to deal with Rayo’s pressing. In terms of offensive output, they managed just four shots on goal — only against Real Betis (two shots, when they drew 1-1 in Seville) and Celta Vigo (three shots, when they won 1-0 away) have they produced fewer in La Liga over 2023-24.
After the match, The Athletic asked Ancelotti if he was worried Madrid lost concentration today because all the focus was on Mbappe.
The Madrid coach was silent for a few seconds, before answering: “When are we not focused? We are always focused. Even today, (when) things didn’t go so well. It’s difficult to blame this team for anything this season.”
Despite this result, Los Blancos remain top of La Liga, six points ahead of Girona, who play tonight away to Athletic Bilbao.
For this reason, Ancelotti was not hard on his players, as he also closed ranks on Mbappe. Although, as we have seen, that should hardly qualify as surprising.
(Top photo: Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
