"Mbappé is a left winger but there's Vinicius, who's the best in the world"

Kylian Mbappe‘s first few months at Real Madrid have not been easy. He started off exhausted after a very long summer, got injured, and has not been able to adapt to the company of Vinicius and Rodrygo. For several seasons, Benzema tried to convince his compatriot to play at the Santiago Bernabeu without success. He renewed with PSG and having arrived two years too late, he now finds that he is far from being the number one in the pecking order of that forward line.

Karim Benzema himself spoke about this situation. Based in Jeddah, where he plays for Al-Ittihad, the Frenchman spoke to ‘El Chiringuito’ and left several messages and advice for his compatriot. In his opinion, Mbappe needs to forget everything he has done so far and be more humble if he wants to adapt to Real Madrid.

"For me, the problem is that he is not a centre-forward. Mbappe is not. Every time he plays with the national team as a No 9 he is not good. It's not his position. But the problem is that on the left there is a guy who is like him, at the same level, which is Vinicius", began a Benzema who believes that now we must respect the place that the Brazilian has earned.

"I don't think Vinicius can be used as a No 9 or on the right because in every game he makes the difference on the left. Ancelotti knows a lot and we'll see how he does that.The solution? Mbappé is not a pure striker. I understand people, they ask a lot of things of him. There is a lot of pressure, this is not PSG," he continued.

Asked for some advice for Mbappe, he asks him to open his mind: "Kylian, you don't have to give up. Because I don't think Vinicius is going to change his position. He's the best in the world right now and the kid can't be moved. Mbappe needs to understand that he's a No 9 now and forget about the left. Let him move with Vinicius, alternating. He's always been very good when he was on the left, but now he has to be very good elsewhere on the pitch".

"Mbappe has to learn to live with the pressure. It's very strong at Real Madrid. He has to put that pressure on himself in every game, every game is a new one.... He has to score goals, he was brought in to score goals only. He has the level and he has everything to do it," concluded Benzema, who knows something about Real Madrid after 648 games and 354 goals in 14 seasons.

November 5, 2024