Red-hot Mbappe faces one of his favourite victims in Champions League opener

The Champions League is back, and so is the atmosphere at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid begin their 2025-26 campaign against Olympique Marseille, a team that Kylian Mbappe knows inside out. The former Monaco and PSG player faced the French side countless times during his time in France.

The Bondy native has thoroughly enjoyed those matches in terms of goals scored, but he has also experienced some less pleasant episodes. Starting with the good news, the striker has scored 10 goals in 16 matches and is undefeated with 14 wins and only two draws. These statistics reflect how well the Frenchman performs against the 'Olympians'.

In fact, Marseille has become one of Mbappe's ten favourite victims. The southern team closes out the top ten, ahead of Angers (10 in 8 games), FC Barcelona (11 goals in 8 games), Nantes (11 goals in 15 games), Lille (11 goals in 15 games), Monaco (11 goals in 14 games), Dijon (12 goals in 11 games), Metz (12 goals in 8 games), Olympique Lyonnais (13 goals in 16 games) and Montpellier (15 goals in 15 games).

The Real Madrid number 10 has always struck fear into the hearts of Marseille players. He faced them twice while wearing the Monaco shirt, scoring one goal, which was his last for the Principality side. From the 2017-18 season onwards, the duels took place with Kylian wearing the PSG shirt: 9 goals and 2 assists in 14 face-to-face encounters.

In two of those matches, however, he experienced the other side of the coin. In his second to last match against OM with the Parisians, in September 2023, the Bondy native lasted just over half an hour due to a left ankle injury and left with no goals. He also failed to score in his last match, in March 2024, as Luis Enrique took him off after 65 minutes. The image of the player nodding his head in a new chapter between the two is well remembered.

Almost a year and a half has passed since then, and Mbappe is living a new life in Madrid. The striker, who broke every possible record in his first season wearing white, has started the new campaign in electric form, proving decisive and unstoppable (four goals in four games). He is a nightmare for any team and on Tuesday he will have the opportunity to strike again against Marseille, the team managed by De Zerbi, which boasts players of the calibre of Greenwood, Aubameyang and Tim Weah, among others...