Real Madrid boss Ancelotti makes Mbappe confession after penalty Miss

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted that his striker Kylian Mbappe is “not at his best” after a penalty miss at San Mames contributed to a 2-1 La Liga loss at Athletic Club on Wednesday.

Alejandro Berenguer put the hosts on course in the 53rd minute and Mbappe had the chance to equalize from the penalty spot a quarter of an hour later but failed.

Jude Bellingham did the honors by converting a rebound after Mbappe struck from distance, but Gorka Guruzeta capitalizing on a poor pass from Fede Valverde near his own penalty area meant the Basques did FC Barcelona a huge favor and allowed the Catalans to stay four points ahead. at the summit.

After the match, a reporter at Ancelotti’s press conference reminded the Italian that Mbappe has scored just 10 goals in 20 games since joining on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain and has also missed two penalties while not looking “even 1% of Mbappe”. we had seen” in the French capital.

“It is much more than 1%. He is not at his best level but you have to give him time to adapt. He has scored 10 goals and is working to do better,” Ancelotti said.

Asked how the Frenchman is feeling after the latest blow to his confidence, Ancelotti replied: “I haven’t spoken to him. It was a complicated game, even, fought, competitive. When we got the equalizer we could find to get control and small details punished us tonight.

“We missed the penalty… I don’t need to evaluate a player’s game because of a penalty that is sometimes scored and sometimes missed. Obviously he is upset, disappointed, but we have to continue.”

Ancelotti also defended Valverde, saying that “like Kylian” the Uruguayan is “sad and disappointed”.

“He made a mistake, but you don’t have to beat him. Fede is a great player. Mistakes are made in football, like everyone else (makes them). We have to look at the next game.”

Overall, Ancelotti believed he saw a match that was “even”.

“Athletic is a very dangerous team, we competed and fought. I think the match was a draw. For what the two teams did for me, it was a draw, but there is nothing to say that they have won, he said. .

“I think we did well defensively in the first half, we could have done better with the ball. In the second half we were better in attack, we had chances. But it’s nothing, we’re still in the game. We could have got a worse result but we are there and let’s think about Saturday’s game in Girona have usually taken a lot of penalties and they are all good. Mbappe, Bellingham and Vinicius,” he concluded about this.