After scoring on his debut against Atalanta in the European Super Cup, Kylian Mbappe failed to score in 3 consecutive matches in La Liga. The remarkable point in those matches was the lack of sharpness of the French striker in the finishing moves. He is still active, breaking through and penetrating the opponent's penalty area regularly but luck keeps changing his face.
The match against Real Betis was not as easy as many Real Madrid fans imagined. They still attack, still dominate but show bad luck against the opponent's net. For the first 45 minutes, Los Blancos' top strikers, including Mbappe, were helpless in putting the ball into the visitors' net. The worry about another loss of points comes as arch-rivals Barcelona have won all four of their opening matches.
It was not until the 67th minute that Real Madrid opened the scoring. Starting from Federico Valverde's header, Mbappe escaped down as quickly as a lightning to receive the ball and finished in a face-off position with the Betis goalkeeper. This time, the 25-year-old striker was successful. He celebrated enthusiastically as if to relieve the pressure he had suffered in the previous 3 matches.
8 minutes after the opening goal, Real Madrid was awarded a penalty after Vinicius Jr was knocked down in the penalty area. Normally, the Brazilian striker would stand up to the 11m mark to take a penalty but he gave it to Mbappe. Making no mistake, the French striker doubled the gap for his team and added another goal to his achievements in La Liga.
After the victory, captain Carlo Ancelotti said this was a happy day for Real Madrid but not the happiest day. The Italian coach said that despite having deployed a good attack, the team was sometimes out of rhythm and needed to improve right from the back.
Returning to Mbappe, despite just having a double, since the beginning of the tournament, he has not really been in good form. Before scoring, the French striker missed two good chances. Including the previous match, Mbappe had scored 18 times. Ancelotti let his student play as a "number 9" and this caused many difficulties for the Los Blancos rookie. It was not until the second half of the match against Betis that Mbappe and Vinicius were able to resolve the problem.
In many times when Real Madrid attack or counter-attack, the pair Vinicius - Mbappe often switch positions with each other. Depending on who is closer to the left wing, that person will always stick to the sidelines so that the other person can penetrate the penalty area. If it were Mbappe, the possibility of a cross was clearer. Meanwhile, if he were Vinicius, the Brazilian striker would focus on playing on the edge of the penalty area to wait for an opportunity.
"There was no disagreement between me and Vinicius. On the contrary, the two are very compatible in the best team" - Mbappe shared.
Before the final whistle, Mbappe left the field with a huge applause from Real Madrid fans at home. He said that the goal this season must be titles and emphasized that he must always score in every match.
