Kylian Mbappé's Press Room Challenge at Real Madrid

Kylian Mbappé walked into the press room at Valdebebas like a man who knows the questions before they’re asked. Third season at Real Madrid. Still no major trophy. Paris Saint-Germain, the club he left to chase the biggest nights in white, now with back-to-back Champions League titles under Luis Enrique.

That contrast hung over every word.

A superstar under interrogation

The Madrid press did not waste time. Why hasn’t this marriage between superclub and superstar truly worked? What about his relationship with Vinícius Jr, with whispers that the two don’t click on or off the pitch? What is the mood in a dressing room that, last season, was accused of fracturing under Xabi Alonso and then Álvaro Arbeloa?

The final question cut deepest: how does it feel to have left PSG only to watch them become the model of a collective, while Madrid are accused of looking like a throwback — a glittering group of individuals rather than a team?

Mbappé bristled, but he did not back down.

He comes into this season only two months removed from becoming the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer, after a summer in North America that cemented his place among the tournament’s greats. Ten goals at the World Cup followed a club campaign of 42 goals in 44 games for Real Madrid. Those numbers place him squarely in the Ballon d’Or conversation.

Yet in Madrid, the story is not that simple.

France’s king, Madrid’s question mark

For France, Mbappé bends tournaments to his will. For Real Madrid, he remains a puzzle that has not quite clicked into place. That contrast frames everything about this third season at the Bernabéu.

Two years, no trophies. The response from the club has been to turn back to José Mourinho, the man whose name still carries the weight of past glories and hard edges. The message is clear: only Mourinho’s authority, and the shadow of what he once was here, can impose the discipline and structure to unleash Madrid’s attacking talent properly.

The first test arrived quickly.

On Friday, Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Betis. Mbappé missed a late penalty. Barcelona, already defending champions, have started their LaLiga campaign with four wins and 17 goals. They look cohesive, ruthless, united with and without the ball. They are setting the pace and daring Madrid to keep up.

So the criticism came: do Mbappé and Vinícius work hard enough defensively? Are they doing the dirty work that players like Ousmane Dembélé at PSG or Raphinha at Barcelona now embody?

“If I wanted to be stupid…”

Mbappé’s answer revealed both his edge and his awareness.

“If I wanted to be stupid, I could tell you that I score more goals than those two players you mentioned, so they need to score more to be like me. Everyone's different,” he said. “But I'm smart, so I'll tell you that I need to improve. But I don't like comparing myself because I do a lot of things that others don't. It's an endless debate. But yes, the whole team needs to improve defensively, and with the ball, we need to raise our level too.”

That line summed up his situation. He knows exactly what he brings. He also knows that, at Madrid, that is no shield from scrutiny.

Too much of his time in Spain has been spent dissecting what he supposedly lacks, rather than what he delivers. Dembélé may have a Ballon d’Or and two Champions League titles, but he has never dominated a World Cup the way Mbappé has. He has never taken a game, or a tournament, and bent it entirely to his will in the same way. Raphinha, too, is a reference point for work rate and structure, not for that same level of game-breaking brilliance.

Mbappé is clear: others can argue, but in his mind, he is the best player in the world. That conviction does not waver.

The Vinícius question and Mourinho’s balance act

That does not mean the club is built around him. Far from it.

There was a brief moment in the summer when Arsenal’s interest in Vinícius gave Madrid a decision to make. They could have cashed in on the Brazilian and reshaped the attack entirely around Mbappé, freeing him from the awkward overlap of two left-sided forwards forced to share the same territory.

Arsenal’s approach even considered that possibility. It never materialised. Vinícius stayed. Now the responsibility lies with both of them to make the partnership work, not just on the highlights reel but in the overall balance of the side.

Mourinho will not judge Mbappé solely on goals. Not this season. Not after two years without silverware. The Frenchman will be measured by how Madrid function with him on the pitch — how he presses, how he links, how he sacrifices, how he fits into a team that can go toe-to-toe with a Barcelona machine already humming.

Mbappé has the numbers, the medals, the World Cup records. What he does not yet have is a defining Real Madrid season.

Under Mourinho, in year three, with Barcelona flying and PSG already where he thought Madrid would be, that gap can no longer be explained away. It has to be closed.