Mbappé Criticises Madrid Mentality As Champions League Top-Eight Hopes Collapse

‎Real Madrid striker, Kylian Mbappé admitted his team lacked the consistency needed to secure a top-eight finish after they slipped into the Champions League play-off round on Wednesday.

‎The 15-time European champions suffered a 4-2 defeat to José Mourinho’s Benfica, a result that pushed them down to ninth in the league phase standings.

‎As a consequence, they will now have to face either Benfica again or Bodø/Glimt in February instead of advancing directly to the last 16.

‎After three wins in their previous three matches under new coach Alvaro Arbeloa, Madrid were brought back down to earth by Benfica in Lisbon.

‎”The problem is we aren’t consistent in our play, we have to fix that, you can’t have one day (playing well) and another not, a champion team does not do that,” Mbappe told reporters.

‎”We deserve to be in this situation today, Benfica were better, now we have to play two more play-off games. It hurts to have to play those, we wanted to have the time in February to work on our game.”

‎Mbappe said he could not put his finger on a clear reason why Madrid played so poorly against Benfica.

‎”I think it’s a bit of everything. I can’t tell you it’s just a matter of attitude, because if I only say that, you’ll think we came here without any desire,” said the French superstar, who scored twice in the defeat.

‎”If I tell you it’s a football issue, you’ll think the team is bad. No, I think it’s a broader issue, and in the Champions League every detail matters if you want to beat your opponent…

‎”It shows you that if you don’t come in with everything you need to win a Champions League match, the opponent will come and, as they say, make fools of you.”

‎However, Mbappe called on Madrid’s fans to support the team at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday against Rayo Vallecano in La Liga, rather than booing as they did earlier in January.

‎”Come and support the team – we had a bad game but we are not knocked out of the Champions League and in La Liga we’re in a good dynamic now,” pleaded Mbappe.

‎”If the Bernabeu is with us, we will win on Sunday.”