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Achraf Hakimi has lavished praise on Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe for his performance against Red Bull Salzburg in their UEFA Champions League group-stage fixture on Wednesday (January 22). The 5-1 domination at the Santiago Bernabeu lifted them to 16th place in the Champions League standings, with 12 points in seven matches.
Kylian Mbappe had a great game in the attack for Los Merengues alongside Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo. The Frenchman scored a goal in the 48th minute to make it 3-0 for the hosts. A heavy touch by Salzburg goalkeeper Janis Blaswich gave Mbappe a chance to steal the ball and fire it into an empty net.
The 26-year-old has now scored in his last four consecutive games for Real Madrid across competitions. His former teammate Achraf Hakimi praised the French superstar's performance in an interview with the Spanish outlet, Marca. He said (via Madrid Xtra's official X handle):
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“I’m happy for Mbappé’s goal, he’s my friend.”
Achraf Hakimi and Kylian Mbappe were teammates during the Frenchman's time at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). The two played 109 games together, racking up eight joint-goal participations. While Kylian Mbappe assisted Hakimi once, the Moroccan right-back returned the favor seven times.
Kylian Mbappe opens up about his struggles during early days at Real Madrid
In 2024, Kylian Mbappe joined Real Madrid from PSG on a free transfer after much anticipation. He arrived in Real Madrid as the record goalscorer for PSG, with 256 goals and 106 assists in 308 games.
Despite sky-high expectations, he had an underwhelming start at his new club, managing just three goals from open play in his first 10 LaLiga games. These numbers pale in comparison to his stats last season for PSG, i.e., 45 goals and 11 assists in 49 games across competitions.
Kylian Mbappe recently opened up about his initial struggles in an interview with The Independent, saying:
“I believe it was a mentality issue and that was a point I realised that I had to work harder. I was thinking too much about how to do things. Whether to go into space, whether to go to Vini's (Vinicius Jr's) area of the pitch, to Rodrygo's area ... when you overthink you don't focus on your game."
“I was fine physically and with the group but I knew I had to do more, that was the time to change the situation. I didn't come to Madrid to play badly. Here we have to play well all the time and now I am ready to do that. I felt bad because I'm a player who always wants to do more and when you don't perform in that level it's normal to get targeted. I knew that it could happen and in the end it was a good moment because after that game I changed my mentality," he added.
The Frenchman concluded, asserting:
“I couldn't do any worse, so when you hit rock bottom you can only go up.”
Despite the slow start, Mbappe has seemingly found his mojo in recent games. He has racked up eight goals and two assists in his last 10 club games across competitions.
(The abovementioned statistics are taken from Sofascore, Fotmob, and Transfermarkt. These sites are privately owned and may change their data as per their prerogative.)
