Madrid had a void last season. When you recite the squad, you jump from 8 to 10. The number 9, an emblematic number, was orphaned. No one inherited the number that Karim Benzema wore on his back for 13 years.The one that previously belonged to Ronaldo, Santillana or Di Stéfano. The one that Cristiano Ronaldo wore in his first season as a Real Madrid player until, after Raúl left, he was able to get his number 7. Now the number 9 will be owned by another newcomer, the Galáctico. The number that Kylian Mbappé will wear and which is already causing a sensation among fans.
This time there was no mystery. Mbappé’s number was not kept under lock and key as happened before with other Galácticos such as Zidane or Beckham. whose number was revealed at his presentation. Madrid confirmed six days before the Frenchman’s debut at the Bernabéu what many, if not all, assumed: that he would wear the number 9 that was left without an owner last season. A preview to get the sales machine going for a shirt that is a hit in the club’s shops.
But the number 9 is not just a symbolic number. It is also a material number. Last season, that number 9 was left vacant due to the lack of a pure striker with the status of a starter. Joselu, with the label of a luxury supporting player, had an outstanding performance: 18 goals in just over 2,000 minutes of play (2,065′ specifically), practically one goal every 115 minutes. Unforgettable were the two he scored against Bayern in the Champions League semi-final. And Vinicius and Bellingham pulled the cart with 24 and 23 goals respectively. But A differential striker was missing, one of those who are always at 30 goals per seasonas Benzema achieved in his later years. Or even those that guarantee 40 goals every season, like Cristiano. Individual goalscoring levels that Madrid will now recover with Mbappé.
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Kylian Mbappé’s career.
Without being a pure ‘9’ in use, Kylian is a voracious striker. He has scored 256 goals in the 308 games he has played for PSG. during his time at the Parc des Princes. The top scorer in the history of the Parisian club. He is also generous: he has provided 94 assists. These figures are added to 48 goals and 29 assists in his 84 international appearances for France. In the last four seasons he has been around 40 goals in each oneHis ceiling is the 44 he scored last season. The season before that it was 41. Two years ago, 39. In 20-21 he reached 42.
A quintet of goal-scoring legends in Madrid
Mbappé (25 years old) is one of those footballers capable of marking an era. Only five players have managed to reach the magic figure of 40 goals for Madrid in a single season: Di Stéfano, Puskas (twice), Hugo Sánchez (twice also), Cristiano (eight times) and Benzema. True legends. CR7, Mbappé’s childhood idol, only ‘failed’ in his first campaign, when he was hampered by an injury that kept him out of action for two months and he was unable to score more than 33 goals. But the Portuguese holds the record for a single year: he scored 61 goals in 2014-2015. He had scored 60 in 2011-12, 55 in 2012-13…
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Real Madrid’s top scorers in a single season in the 20th and 21st centuries.Source: BeSoccer Pro
By Stephen He was, as in so many other aspects, a pioneer. The Arrow He scored 43 goals in the 1956-57 season. Three years later, in 1959-60, Puskas He scored 48 goals in 36 games. A record that stood until Cristiano Ronaldo smashed it in 2010-11, with 53 goals. Cañoncito Pum He also scored 40 goals in 1961-62. In the almost half century that followed, only Hugo Sánchez was able to surpass that bar.The Mexican scored 43 goals in 1986-87 and 42 in 1989-80, the season in which Hugo was Pichichi, scoring all his league goals (38 goals) with his first touch.
The last Real Madrid player who was able to reach forty goals in a single year was Benzema, whose 44 goals in 2021-22 They threw Madrid to win the Champions League double and He was catapulted to the Ballon d’Or. Now his compatriot Mbappé inherits the number that Karim left vacant and the responsibility of giving a new boost to Madrid’s goal-scoring machine, which hit a goalscoring slump after Cristiano’s departure.
From the 148 goals in the Portuguese’s last season, the team fell to 88 in 2020-21Zidane’s second farewell campaign. Almost half of the record of 174 goals registered in 2011-12. Under Ancelotti, production has increased to 129 goals scored by Madrid in 55 games last season. With the arrival of Mbappé, the coach has added a new and powerful attacking weapon to his arsenal.
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