Kylian Mbappe Highlights Worrying Real Madrid ‘Problem’ in Scathing Assessment

Defeat leaves Los Blancos needing to play two extra Champions League games in February.

Kylian Mbappé does not have an explanation. | Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images

Kylian Mbappé broke down Real Madrid’s costly 4–2 defeat to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday night to one thing—a lack of desire from Los Blancos to win the game.

“It isn’t about quality, and it isn’t about tactics,” Mbappé complained to reporters in Lisbon, after the loss pushed Los Blancos out of the league phase’s final top eight.

“It’s about having more desire than your opponent. You could see that everything was on the line for Benfica, and you couldn’t see that for us, and that’s a problem.”

Benfica needed to win and improve their goal difference to sneak inside the top 24.

Victory could have seen Real Madrid finish as high as third, while even a draw would have been enough for fifth place. But there was still jeopardy and the loss meant placing ninth instead, forced to contest the additional two-legged knockout playoff instead of jumping straight to the round of 16.

Mbappé couldn’t understand why, when that was at stake, Real Madrid didn’t perform as they can, referencing the far superior display against Villarreal in La Liga a few days earlier.

“I don’t have a clear explanation. It wasn’t the same as against Villarreal, and that’s a problem,” he said. “We aren’t being consistent in our play. We have to solve that. We can’t do it one day, and then not another. A team of champions doesn’t do that.”

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The Cost to Real Madrid

Mbappé wanted “time in February to work on our play” on the training pitch, but that chance has now been lost. Instead, two midweeks next month that would otherwise have been clear will now be taken up by games and Los Blancos will find out on Friday whether they have to play Bødo/Glimt or Benfica to make it through to the next round that many of their main rivals are already confirmed in.

The extra matches will be played on Feb. 17/18 and Feb. 24/25, with Álvaro Arbeloa’s team to be at home at the Santiago Bernabéu in the second leg.

The Spanish Super Cup has already been played and Real are already out of the Copa del Rey, so the damage in terms of overcrowding the schedule could have been worse.

Still, it’s two more games that were absolutely avoidable when there are five La Liga fixtures to play from Feb. 1 to March 1, inclusive.

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Real Madrid Upcoming Fixtures

Date	Fixture	Competition
Feb. 1, 2026	Real Madrid vs. Rayo Vallecnao	La Liga
Feb. 8, 2026	Valencia vs. Real Madrid	La Liga
Feb. 14, 2026	Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad	La Liga
Feb. 17/18, 2026	TBC vs. Real Madrid	Champions League
Feb. 22, 2026	Osasuna vs. Real Madrid	La Liga
Feb. 24/25, 2026	Real Madrid vs. TBC	Champions League
March 1, 2026	Real Madrid vs. Getafe	La Liga

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Mbappé’s Chance for Another Champions League Record Increases

Mbappé is headed for another Champions League record. | MB Media/Getty Images

Looking for the silver lining, the knockout playoff round is an opportunity that will help Mbappé on his quest to make even more history this season.

He is already the new top-scoring player in the history of the Champions League’s group stage/league phase thanks to the 13 he racked up in seven appearances during the opening round, breaking a longstanding Cristiano Ronaldo record in the process. The next record in his sights is most goals overall in a single Champions League season, currently held by Ronaldo.

Naturally, playing two more games gives him a better chance to break that. The record is 17, set by Ronaldo during Real Madrid’s title-winning 2013–14 campaign, so Mbappé needs four more to equal it and a fifth to break it. Should Los Blancos keep progressing, he could have up to nine games left.

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