Forty-five minutes was all it took
Kylian Mbappe was back in action on Sunday night. Real Madrid faced Schalke 04 in their final warm-up before La Liga. The Frenchman opened the scoring inside six minutes, pouncing on a sloppy back pass to go through and beat Karius one-on-one.
He then kept making runs in behind the German back line. He worked hard off the ball too, dropping in to help win it back. Jose Mourinho took him off at half-time. Real won 3-0.
The match also marked the debuts of Marc Cucurella and Ibrahima Konate. Yan Diomande came on in the second half.
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Madrid media deliver their verdict
On Monday morning, the Spanish dailies made Mbappe their front-page story. “The boss is still Mbappe,” runs the AS headline, which names him the best player in the first half. Marca went further: “If Kylian wants to be talked about as a Real Madrid legend, a big chunk of that journey has to be done by June.”
The same message came from Cadena SER. Columnist Tomas Roncero is expecting a major trophy this season. “I think the third season will be the one. In terms of stats, Mbappe is unique, but he still needs trophies,” he said.
A third season under the microscope
Real Madrid did not play on the opening weekend of La Liga. The club earned a postponement because a large number of players returned late from the World Cup. Los Blancos begin their league campaign away to Espanyol on Saturday night.
Mbappe is heading into his third year in Madrid. The numbers have never been the issue. The silverware has. Local media were quick to remind him of that after just 45 minutes of a friendly.
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