Real Madrid News
Inside Sami Khedira’s growing influence in Mourinho’s Real Madrid staff
Sami Khedira has been a part of Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff from the get-go in his second stint at the club, and it is queer how closely his story with Real Madrid is linked with the manager.
For starters, Khedira arrived at Real Madrid after being specifically requested by Jose Mourinho after the 2010 World Cup. At that time, the coach was preparing for his first stint at the club and saw Khedira as a valuable piece.
16 years later, Mourinho is back for his second stint at the World Cup and has again called back the former player – this time to have an active role in his coaching staff.
What is Khedira’s role?
As reported by The Athletic, Mourinho wanted a figure who could act as a link between him and the squad, ideally someone with a deep understanding of how the club works. The German legend’s CV met those criteria.
He wanted someone strong and charismatic in the dressing room who could directly serve as an assistant coach and help on the tactical side of things.
Khedira, for his part, has already earned a coaching license but did not see himself cut out for that role.
He always felt an administrative and long-term strategist role suited him better, but there was no saying no to Mourinho and Real Madrid.
A role beyond coaching
As an assistant coach, one of Khedira’s jobs is to oversee training, organise drills and develop training sessions to improve the team’s condition.
There are, however, other experts involved in that aspect as well, while Khedira has a plethora of diverse roles in addition to the aforementioned routine.
The club legend has been tasked with improving the dynamics and standards within the team, especially given how he is fully aware of the demands placed on Real Madrid players.
He is highly respected by the dressing room and acts as an advisor to players and the manager by giving his honest opinion on several diverse topics.
Further, his fitness standards are so high that he even participates in training with the team at times. Some even joke internally that he can still play for the team.
Kylian Mbappe’s blistering start to the season has already hit its first bump, with the Real Madrid forward’s missed penalty against Real Betis exposing an area of his game that has historically been less reliable.
Mbappe had given Madrid fans plenty of reasons for optimism in the opening weeks.
He scored a hat-trick against Real Sociedad before finding the net again against Malaga, making it four goals across his first three matches of the season.
The performance against Betis, though, was a different story.
Mbappe struggled to make the same impact and then missed an injury-time penalty, with Alvaro Valles making the save as Madrid eventually suffered a 0-1 defeat.
Mbappe’s penalty numbers make uncomfortable reading
Mbappe’s latest miss adds to a record that is far from elite when compared with some of Real Madrid’s previous specialists.
Including the Betis penalty, Mbappe has now missed 16 of the 81 penalties he has taken during his career, excluding shoot-outs. That represents a failure rate of 19.7%.
His numbers with Real Madrid are even less convincing, having converted 19 of 24 penalties for the club, meaning his miss rate stands at 20.8%, effectively one missed penalty in every five attempts.
Mbappe’s record compared with Madrid legends
The comparison with Real Madrid’s previous penalty takers provides better context.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed only 13 of his 92 penalties, giving him a miss rate of 14.1%. Sergio Ramos was considerably more dependable, missing just one of his 23 attempts, which is a rate of 4.3%.
All three sets of figures exclude penalty shoot-outs, making the comparison more relevant to normal match situations.
Mbappe therefore has work to do if he is to reach the level of reliability expected from a team’s primary penalty taker.
Sure, his overall goalscoring numbers remain outstanding, but penalties are an important part of that production.
Mourinho should keep faith with Mbappe
Meanwhile, there is little reason for Jose Mourinho or the Real Madrid dressing room to lose confidence in Mbappe because of one miss on matchday four.
His opening performances, particularly the hat-trick against Real Sociedad, provide ample evidence of his quality, and the greater concern may be psychological rather than tactical.
Mbappe’s confidence from the spot will be worth watching, especially because of what he is chasing this season.
The Ballon d’Or, Pichichi and Golden Boot are all among his ambitions, and penalties offer a valuable route towards the goals required for those prizes.
