“Kylian Mbappe!” That’s the name who the fans chant every weekend, a fearless and dangerous forward feared across all of Europe.
But in order to know him fully, you have to know his past and his career. Born and raised in the suburbs of Bondy, Paris on December 20th, 1998, Mbappe began his soccer career at age 15 playing for Monaco’s Academy. He made his way up to the first team in which he won the Ligue 1 title in the 2016-2017 season, with 26 goals and 8 assists. Pretty good for a 15-year-old playing against grown men in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues. Eventually, Mbappe found himself moving to Paris Saint-Germain at age 18 for around 180 million euros. This transfer broke headlines and made him the second most expensive player and first expensive teenage transfer of all time.
In his first season at PSG, the French superstar managed to bag in 21 goals behind the net, making him one of the best teenagers at the time. During his time at PSG, he managed to win six Ligue 1 titles and 4 Coupes De France, including a domestic quadruple in the 2019-2020 season, also leading his team to the Champions League Final. Unfortunately, they ended up losing to a strong sided Bayern Munich. Towards the end of his time at PSG, there were a lot of problems between Mbappe and the president. The president of PSG wanted him to stay, but Mbappe wanted to leave to complete his dream of becoming a Real Madrid player. The President even gave him the option to do whatever he wanted to the club, to change tactics, to sell or to buy players. In the end, he left the club for his own sake, being the top goalscorer for the club surpassing Uruguayan Forward Cavani and ranking third in assists. Leaving Ligue 1, he was ranked as the seventh highest goalscorer of all time.
After many years off and on in his decision making, Kylian Mbappe finally made his move to his boyhood club, Real Madrid, not knowing the challenges he would face along the way. Mbappe made his debut for Real Madrid on Aug. 14, 2024. Real Madrid played Europa League winners Atalanta from the Serie A in Italy. He managed to score the second goal of the game in a 2-0 win over the Italian side and he won his first major European trophy for his new boyhood club.
After the game he said, “We didn’t know if we would be able to play with each other, but everyone in the team is great,” mentioning players like Vincius Junior, who was a Ballon d’Or candidate in the last season, Bellingham, Rodrygo and all the stars. Commenting on that, Casa Grande junior and soccer fan Brady Lovrin stated, “It’s gonna be hard for them to play with each other because of the amount of stars and how much ego can influence the team.”
On Aug. 18, Mbappe made his first La Liga debut against Mallorca away. The game ended in a 1-1 draw which he did not score but Rodrygo managed to put it in the back of the net. It was surprising how Mbappe didn’t manage to score in this game due to his exceptional performances the last few years. Then, on Sept. 1, Real Madrid faced Real Betis in the Bernabeu. Rodrygo picked up the ball on the right side of the 18 yard box, cut in and dribbled, lent it to Valverde, and he slipped Mbappe in for an amazing play and a near post finish from Mbappe, making the game 1-0. The whole crowd roared as he netted his first goal for the club. Later on, he managed to convert a penalty making the score 2-0 and left the game ending that way, too. He was very happy and managed to get a brace (2 goals).
Days later, on Sept. 17, he netted his first champions league goal for the club in a 3-1 win over German side VfB Stuttgart. But in games after that, he started fading; he wasn’t the Mbappe the fans knew, with missed penalties, missed chances, poor dribbles, poor touches. Not confident on the ball and losing it every time, he knew he had to change to help the club. It became really bad when the game was on the line against Athletic Club in a Laliga match, he had the pen and walked up to the ball, shot it to the right side of the goalie and Saved by Unai Simon. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Mbappe was not happy with his performances. Only netting 14 goals in the 2024 season, not high enough for his standard, and it became so, so bad when fans were calling him a “disgrace,” a “washed player,”saying, “we got scammed.” Mbappe stated in an interview with Anita Jones of CBS Sports that “it was more of a mental thing . . . I knew I was good physically, good with the team, the group, but I had to do more, and I knew it.” But this all ended on Dec. 10.
It was Champions league night in Italy, and Real Madrid were going against Atalanta, the same team they beat a couple months ago. Mbappe managed to score a low driven shot into the bottom left corner which led to a 3-0 win against the Italian side, and also ending his poor performances at last. At the end of the 2024/2025 season, Mbappe managed to score a whopping 43 goals for the club breaking records and ultimately winning the Pichichi award for top scorer in Laliga with 31 goals. Although Mbappe had a good season, his team didn’t.
They lost the Supercopa de Espana by Barcelona in a 5-2 win, and then they also lost in the Copa del Rey in a 3-2 loss against their rivals Barcelona, and at last they got knocked out of the champions league by Arsenal in an unfortunate 5-1 win. And to make matters even worse, his last club Paris Saint Germain managed to win the champions league the year after he left, causing people to wonder whether Mbappe was the problem and why Real Madrid didn’t win anything that year.
As of right now in the 2025/2026 season, Mbappe has racked up 39 goals for Real Madrid, already about to surpass his last season’s scoring record. Casa junior Kevin Medina stated, “he could win this year’s Ballon d’Or if he keeps up the momentum and if Madrid win the Champions League, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa De Espana.” They even managed to beat Barcelona at the start of the season on Oct. 26 in a 2-1 win. But after all the wins they fell again, from being at the top of the table with new manager Xabi Alonso, to being second again right behind Barcelona. After their dramatic defeat against Barcelona in the supercup in a 3-2 loss, Manager Arbeloa came in for Xabi Alonso. The team is looking really solid as of right now, with their most recent win against Valencia in the Mestalla (2-0) with goals from Kylian Mbappe, and Alvaro Carreras. Their next game coming against Real Sociedad id off by one point from being 1st. Will Real Madrid and Mbappe be able to take over that 1st and make their way back to the top? Or, could Mbappe earn himself a Ballon d’Or this year?
