Though they've reeled Barcelona in a little at the top of the La Liga table since the 4-0 Clasico defeat to their rivals, this continues to be a season of frustration for Real Madrid — especially when it comes to their defence of the Champions League trophy.
Premier League leaders Liverpool defeated Los Blancos 2-0 at Anfield via goals in the second half from Cody Gakpo and Alexis Mac Allister, but it was at the other end of the pitch where the most telling indictment of Real's current stumbles could be found.
Kylian Mbappe struggled to make an impression as the home side kept a clean sheet, and missed a penalty kick that would have made it 1-1 at one point.
Meanwhile young Liverpool defender Conor Bradley was universally praised for a strong performance, including a tremendously-timed tackle that thwarted perhaps the only other time Mbappe had the beating of the opposing backline and earned him a hearty roar of approval from the crowd.
The tackle was as businesslike as it was crucial, showing the World Cup winner no respect whatsoever in pursuit of the ball and the eventual win.
And Mbappe found no respect postgame, either, as pundits around the world broke down Real's latest defeat in Europe.
His fellow countryman Thierry Henry undoubtedly holds Mbappe in very high regard. However one line he offered after the game was as cold as ice.
"Conor Bradley was just outstanding," Henry said on the CBS Sports broadcast. "I think he didn’t have to do a lot defensively because Mbappe didn’t do a lot offensively. So, it became very easy."
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His flippant summary of Mbappe's ineffective game then made way for more praise of breakout star Bradley, 21, and his performance.
“That [tackle] for me, already did set the tone,” Henry explained. “Boom! That’s it.
"You all know, you guys were centre-back, right-back, whatever, when you go into someone like that at the beginning of the game, you’re going to struggle.
“We see him making that run [forwards], every time – he fancied it. You could see, he fancied himself against Mbappe.
"Everything he did was spot on. We were waiting for Salah, we were waiting for Mbappe, but we saw Conor Bradley, so fair play to him.”
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Real Madrid are now 24th out of 36 teams in the new-look Champions League table and at serious risk of going out extremely early as the holders, having defeated Borussia Dortmund in last year's final at Wembley.
Mbappe's struggles up front have been a recurring issue, and this particular performance was a lowlight for one of the most talented forwards in the world, as shown by this stats summary (courtesy of SofaScore):
Kylian Mbappe vs. Liverpool (Nov. 27, 2024) Shots at goal1Penalties missed1Dribbles completed3/6 (50%)Passes completed18/24 (75%)Duels won7/15 (47%)Possession given away15 times
