Kylian Mbappé impressed with a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s convincing 5-0 win over Champions League newcomers Kairat Almaty, but the Frenchman surprisingly came away from the performance feeling like he could have done more.
Madrid flew 4,000 miles from Western Europe to Central Asia just 19 hours after a humiliating 5–2 defeat to rivals Atlético Madrid, looking to find the groove that had seen Xabi Alonso win his first six La Liga games as well as sweeping past Marseille on Matchday 1 of the Champions League.
After a tentative opening which could perhaps be attributed to the lengthy travel time, Mbappé opened Real Madrid’s account from the penalty spot before going on to score a further two as the 15-time winners eventually matched expectations in Kazakhstan.
For Mbappé, who is now sixth in the list of all-time Champions League goalscorers, it wasn’t enough though. Indeed, one of the early favorites for the 2026 Ballon d’Or suggested that he should actually have punished Kairat a whole lot more than he did.
Mbappé: I Should Score Five Goals
“A player like me, when I have five chances I should score five goals,” Mbappé chuntered to Movistar postmatch. “Today, I scored three, and that’s good, but I could have scored more. I’ll keep working to be more clinical in front of goal.”
Xabi Alonso agreed with Mbappé’s sentiment in his own musings, telling reporters: “In this format, when you have the chance to score goals, you can’t fail to do it. We could have scored more, but it’s mission accomplished for today.”
Alonso also witnessed late goals from Eduardo Camavinga and Braham Díaz, giving Madrid a comfortable victory on paper, but Mbappé was at pains to point out that the weekend hammering at Atlético can’t be swept under the carpet.
“You should never forget, we can’t forget what happened this weekend,” the 26-year-old said. “This is another competition, but we have to keep thinking about what happened, and work to be better so as not to experience another night like that.”
Frighteningly, Mbappé is already up to 13 goals in all competitions from just nine appearances, with his hat-trick here adding to the brace he netted in the 2–1 over Marseille.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why Kylian Mbappe Was Not Happy Despite Record-Breaking Hat-Trick.
