Kylian Mbappe penalty miss raises fresh questions over Real Madrid role

Kylian Mbappe’s latest penalty miss has reopened concerns about his confidence from 12 yards, after goalkeeper Valles saved his effort at La Cartuja and potentially cost Real Madrid at least a point.

The France forward’s attempt became the focus of widespread debate after a hesitant run-up that included two steps to the left, two forwards, a brief pause, three further steps and another adjustment before he struck the ball with his right foot.

Spanish newspaper AS reported that Mbappe’s difficulties from the penalty spot have followed him since his first year at Real Madrid, when the issue developed into a crisis of confidence.

In December 2024, he missed a penalty at San Mames against Athletic Club, having already failed from the spot at Anfield against Liverpool the previous week. The two misses came at a difficult stage of his start at Real Madrid, with the club losing both matches against Athletic Club and Liverpool.

Mbappe publicly took responsibility for those failures. Carlo Ancelotti subsequently allowed several players to take penalties, with Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham also involved, although the change did not produce a significant improvement.

The latest save by Valles at La Cartuja has revived those doubts, adding to a sequence that also includes Mbappe’s previous missed penalty in a World Cup quarter-final against Morocco, when Yassine Bounou was the opposing goalkeeper.

Penalty record under scrutiny

Mbappe’s latest failure means he has now missed 16 of the 81 non-shootout penalties he has taken, giving him a failure rate of 19.7%.

His record at Real Madrid is slightly worse. He has missed five of 24 penalties for the club, a failure rate of 20.8% equivalent to one miss in every five attempts.

Those figures compare unfavourably with the records of two of Real Madrid’s most prominent penalty-takers. Cristiano Ronaldo missed 13 of 92 penalties during his time in the club’s white shirt, a failure rate of 14.1%, while Sergio Ramos missed only one of 23, or 4.3%. Shootouts are excluded from all three sets of figures.

The comparison has inevitably raised the spectre of Ronaldo, although the central concern is not simply Mbappe’s statistics. The data suggest that pressure may be affecting both his decision-making and his execution when he stands over the ball.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho defended his striker after the incident and offered a firm assessment of the responsibility shared by the team.

“When one of us steps up to take a penalty, we all step up,” Mourinho said.

The Portuguese manager has also spoken highly of the number 10 in his individual assessments. At his first news conference, he said: “He is a very good player.”

Despite the miss, Mbappe’s position as Real Madrid’s leading penalty taker remains secure. Neither Mourinho nor the dressing room is expected to lose faith in him because of an unsuccessful attempt in the fourth round of the league season, particularly after the France international made a strong start to the campaign, including a hat-trick against Real Sociedad.

The greater concern is likely to be Mbappe’s own reaction. Penalties remain an important source of goals as he pursues the Ballon d’Or, the league’s top-scorer award and the European Golden Shoe, meaning he cannot easily abandon the responsibility.

The subject has also generated wider discussion on the Kooora forums.