Kylian Mbappé: Breaking Records but Missing Glory
Kylian Mbappé is breaking records. The question now is whether he’s breaking the right ones.
The France captain has just put together another absurd year in front of goal. Forty-two strikes for Real Madrid last season, a second Pichichi in La Liga, and a World Cup haul that now stands at 22 – more than anyone in the history of FIFA’s showpiece. At 27, he already sits alone as France’s all-time leading scorer with 66.
Individually, he is operating in rare air. Collectively, the view is less impressive.
Goals without the glory
Mbappé’s numbers scream Ballon d’Or. His trophy cabinet does not. Major club silverware continues to slip from his grasp, and with it, the game’s biggest individual prize.
This year’s Ballon d’Or conversation is already drifting away from him. Harry Kane’s ruthlessness, Rodri’s dominance, the explosion of Lamine Yamal, the rise of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – that’s where the noise is growing. Mbappé, despite the goals and the World Cup heroics, is again in danger of sliding down the voting.
He hasn’t hidden how much that bothers him. He has spoken openly about why he believes the “best player on the planet” tag should be his. Those words have not landed well with everyone.
Leboeuf: “Everything Mbappé does feels like it’s for himself”
Ex-France defender Frank Leboeuf, speaking to GOAL in association with Mr Gamble, did not dance around the issue. For him, the problem is not Mbappé’s talent. It’s what that talent seems to serve.
“Nobody can say Raphinha is a better number nine than Kylian Mbappé because this is the first time Raphinha is playing as a number nine, whereas Mbappé has been playing as a number nine and consistently scoring goals for almost 10 years,” Leboeuf said.
“However, everything Mbappé does on the field feels like it's for himself, whereas with Raphinha, you feel everything he does is for the team. That's the problem.”
The comparison is pointed. Raphinha, with 14 goals this season at Barcelona, is hardly a traditional reference point in the No.9 debate. Yet Leboeuf is using him as a symbol: a forward who appears to put the collective first.
When Mbappé talks, Leboeuf listens – and winces.
“When Mbappé says he wants to win the Ballon d'Or, that says it all. That is my concern. You should never talk about the Ballon d'Or like that. Going into the media to express his wish and willingness to win the Ballon d'Or is annoying because it proves his critics right.
“They think he's selfish, and he is showing that. Real Madrid isn't playing well or winning games, yet he's talking about the Ballon d'Or. No, start winning games and scoring goals with your team.
“Express that you want to win La Liga and the Champions League. Stop talking about the Ballon d'Or, it's not important.”
Leboeuf knows how this can be interpreted. “People might say I'm jealous because I didn't win the Ballon d'Or, but I'm fine. I'm fond of Kylian Mbappé, but sometimes when he talks to the media, it's not good for his image.”
The message is blunt: if Mbappé wants the golden ball, he needs to stop chasing it in public and start dragging his team to the biggest prizes.
The missing piece: a Champions League crown
For all his domestic dominance and World Cup drama, one line still glares on Mbappé’s CV: no Champions League title.
Leboeuf is clear – if Mbappé is to finally land a Ballon d’Or, that may have to change. Paris Saint-Germain, the club he left behind, have just gone back-to-back in the Champions League. He has watched their celebrations from afar.
Real Madrid, under the returning “Special One” José Mourinho, do not yet look like a side ready to storm Europe again. Early in the 2026-27 campaign, they have stumbled rather than strutted. A 16th European Cup, on this evidence, looks a long chase.
“Real Madrid in the Champions League, it’s too early to say,” Leboeuf admitted. He pointed to PSG as a warning and a template: slow starters who woke up around December and then crushed everyone.
“Hopefully Mourinho will find the solution to make the team better,” he added.
Mourinho, red cards and a fragile Real
Leboeuf’s doubts are not only about Mbappé. They stretch across the club.
At the weekend, Real’s derby with Atletico Madrid left him baffled. “I didn't understand how Atletico Madrid finished the game with 11 players and Real Madrid with 10. I understand why their player got sent off, but there were two red-card-worthy fouls from Atletico Madrid.
“I agree with Mourinho, you don't even need a post-match press conference, just show the pictures and that says it all.”
For Leboeuf, the issue runs deeper than one referee. “VAR officials in England, France, and Spain need to wake up because it's not working.”
Real’s problems, though, are not just about officiating. They are about identity, ego, and time.
“We knew when Mourinho came in that it would take time to settle down, and we don't know yet if it's going to work. With the egos in the dressing room and the mentality of the players, even for someone with a strong character like Mourinho, it's going to be very difficult to fix what is going wrong at Real Madrid.”
Barcelona’s culture vs Real’s egos
On the other side of Spain’s great divide, Leboeuf sees a very different picture.
“Barcelona has a culture of playing together that has been there since Johan Cruyff or even before. For 50 or 60 years at Barcelona, the main principle has been to play together, despite having individual talent,” he said.
“[Pep] Guardiola maintained that, [Ronald] Koeman maintained that, and Hansi Flick does that now. Even if they don't focus as much on defending, they score so many goals that it's impossible to cope with them. That's a beautiful, entertaining game.”
Real, under Mourinho, are built for something else entirely.
“We know Mourinho wants to play a different style. When he came back in 2013, he changed the mentality and made Real Madrid win by being tough and aggressive, which is acceptable in football.
“It takes time to return to that mindset, and I don't know if Mourinho is capable of repeating what he did in 2013. Hopefully for him, Real Madrid, and the fans, he can. But I have my doubts given the current generation of players he has, as it's hard to change that selfish mindset.”
Mbappé’s crossroads
That last line lands squarely on Mbappé’s shoulders too. Selfish mindset. Team culture. A club searching for itself. A superstar chasing a golden trophy that keeps slipping away.
He has the goals. He has the records. He has the spotlight.
What he doesn’t have yet is the Champions League, the collective dominance, or the unanimous admiration that usually drags the Ballon d’Or into a player’s hands.
If Mbappé wants to be remembered as more than a numbers phenomenon, this season at Real Madrid will test whether he can turn those individual fireworks into something heavier: a team that wins, a dressing room that buys in, and a legacy that doesn’t need a golden ball to validate it.
