As soon as the game was over, Kylian Mbappe came off the bench and went to pick up the ball with which he had scored his hat-trick.
On his way to the referee, the Frenchman was embraced by his Real Madrid team-mates and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
Mbappe had just become only the second player — Lionel Messi being the other — to have scored seven goals against a Guardiola team in the Champions League. The Bernabeu rose to applaud him.
Before that, the 26-year-old striker had heard his name chanted half a dozen times on the night.
He led Madrid to a 3-1 win over Manchester City (6-3 on aggregate) and a place in the last 16 of the Champions League, so it was no surprise he received the man of the match award.
However, probably the most important thing is that we saw a version of Mbappe that was reminiscent of his exhibition in the last 16 against Barcelona in 2021, or against Argentina in the World Cup final in 2022, two of his most memorable hat-tricks.
“The adaptation period is over. It’s time to show my personality,” Mbappe said after the match against City.
Kylian Mbappe was unstoppable this evening! 🔥
⚽️⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/B35mbNk1JZ
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 19, 2025
In the first few months in Madrid, voices within the dressing room, who preferred to remain anonymous, did not define Mbappe as a leader.
They described him as someone who would rather stay in the background and let other veterans do the talking while he focused on getting back to his physical and footballing best.
It was a difficult time for Madrid’s star signing, who suffered a muscle injury at the end of September and was not called up by Didier Deschamps for France’s international breaks in October and November.
Sources on the Real Madrid coaching staff thought his final few months at Paris Saint-Germain, with a somewhat difficult exit, had caused him to lose some of his spark. But they never doubted it was only a matter of time before he regained it.
In the 2-1 defeat against Athletic Bilbao, a game in which he missed a penalty, Mbappe experienced a turning point.
“What happened to me was mental… In Bilbao, I realised I couldn’t do any worse. That’s when I said to myself, ‘Come on, you didn’t come to Madrid to play badly’,” Mbappe said on January 21 in a press conference.
“It wasn’t shyness. But at Real Madrid, you have to come with humility because it’s a team that has won everything and you can’t come with demands, ordering ‘pass me the ball’. No. Here you come with the utmost respect… And to work.”
Since that moment at San Mames, 18 games have passed and Mbappe has changed his streak drastically: he has scored 17 goals — including another hat-trick, against Real Valladolid.
The match against City at the Bernabeu was the culmination of that process.
Just four minutes after kick-off, Mbappe received a long pass from defender Raul Asencio behind the City back line and placed a perfect lob over Ederson.
It was a goal with a centre-forward’s movement, a position in which the Frenchman was not comfortable at first because he was used to playing on the left but which he has started to enjoy.
“Do I feel good there? At the moment, yes, although the next day I can be on the left or the right… I can play well in all three positions. That’s why I haven’t said which position I’m good at,” Mbappe said after the match.
Before the half-hour mark, there were two more chances for Mbappe, but a long-range shot was blocked and a powerful drive was saved by Ederson.
By then, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo were busy creating as many chances as possible for Mbappe.
In the 33rd minute, it was through one of those combinations that the Frenchman made it 2-0, bamboozling Josko Gvardiol before finishing past Ederson. The crowd went wild, chanting his name repeatedly.
The Madrid No 9 then tried to set up Vinicius Jr on a couple of occasions but with no luck.
As The Athletic’s chart shows, Mbappe was not all that involved in general play, making only 23 passes all night.
However, he was very active in off-the-ball play, continually offering himself in the space left behind City’s defenders and above all being very efficient in the chances he did have: he scored three goals from five shots on target.
The Madrid striker showed a willingness to drop deep to defend when needed. Mbappe’s preparedness to do this was something that troubled head coach Carlo Ancelotti before his arrival, but he is showing he can do it and is happy to do so.
“If the coach has now convinced us to defend? He doesn’t have to convince us. We know what we have to do to win. He (Ancelotti) just gives you a bit of detail to be better,” Mbappe said in the mixed zone.
In the second half — starting on the right flank this time — the Madrid striker dribbled his way past several defenders and made it 3-0 with a perfectly placed left-footed strike from outside the box that was reminiscent of a Cristiano Ronaldo goal against Sevilla in early 2013.
“He (Mbappe) has the quality to reach Cristiano’s level,” Ancelotti said afterwards. “He has to work because Cristiano has set the limit very high. For the quality, for the illusion he has, he can reach Cristiano’s level, but it’s not going to be easy, he has to work.”
With this hat-trick, the Frenchman has now scored 27 goals and is very close to surpassing Ronaldo’s own tally in his first season at Madrid — when he scored 33.
“If I can reach 50 goals in this season? I always believe so. I have maximum confidence in myself. But I don’t limit myself, if I can score (more goals), I’m going to score more,” Mbappe said in the mixed zone.
Also in the stands was Zinedine Zidane — ‘godfather’ at his official presentation at the Bernabeu in July — who was caught open-mouthed and impressed after one of Mbappe’s goals.
It has been a long time since we have seen such a superior display from a Madrid player against a team of City’s stature.
That is why no one now doubts that Mbappe has regained not only his confidence but also his best level. For his part, the dressing room sees him taking the lead at the right time.
“I’m sure it was a great night, but the next one will be better,” was one of Mbappe’s last sentences in the mixed zone as he left the stadium showing everyone another signed ball.
(Top photo: Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)
