“Every time he plays 9 it’s not good” Benzema not tender with Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé’s mixed start to the season with Real Madrid has the press, the supporters and even the club’s former glories like Karim Benzema talking.

The French striker is well known for not having his tongue in his pocket. The former Real Madrid legend (2009-2023) plays at the age of 36 in Saudi Arabia for Al-Ittihad. In an interview given to the Spanish show El Chiringuito this Monday, the former Meringue returned to Kylian Mbappé’s complicated start to the season with Real explaining that he “is not a center forward”.

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It’s a positioning problem, nothing else, the 2022 Ballon d’or went straight to the point: “For me, the problem is that he is not a center forward. Mbappé is not”. “Every time he plays 9 with the selection, it’s not good. That’s not his position. But the problem is that on the left there is a boy who looks like him. At the same level, Vinicius. So there is a problem…”.

Vinicius must not adapt

And in the hierarchy, the former Lyon player clearly shows his preference for his former teammate: “I think Vinicius cannot be placed as ‘9’ or on the right”he continues. “Because in every match he makes the difference on the left. Ancelotti knows a lot and we will see how he does that. The solution? Mbappé is not a pure ‘9’. I understand people, they ask a lot of things. There’s a lot of pressure, it’s not PSG.”

The former Blues striker still has encouraging words for his former selection partner: “Kylian, you must not give up because I don’t think Vinicius is going to move. He is currently the best in the world. And the boy can’t be moved. They need to make Mbappé understand that he is now a ‘9’ and that he forgets the left. Let him move with Vinicius, alternating. He was always very good when he was on the left but now you have to be very good elsewhere on the pitch.

“The pressure is very difficult. It was different for me, I was 21 (when he joined Real). It’s not the same as Mbappé who is 25 years old. He knows there is a lot of pressure in Madrid. If you don’t score a goal for two or three games, they will kill you. You can win the Ballon d’Or or whatever you want, if you go three games without scoring, again… He has to learn to live with the pressure, which is very strong at Real Madrid. He has to put this pressure on himself every game, every game is new. He has to score goals, they brought you in to score goals only. He has the level and he has everything to achieve it.