Real Madrid News
Real Madrid flop determined to stay at the club until 2024 – report
Eden Hazard has endured a nightmarish spell at Real Madrid. Having arrived in 2019 from Chelsea in a club-record move, the Belgian was tipped to become the face of the team for years to come.
But a myriad of injury and fitness issues have led to him being ostracized from the first-team setup almost entirely. Indeed, despite being at the club for nearly four years now, Hazard has made only 74 appearances so far, scoring a mere seven goals.
Hazard has played just eight times across all competitions this term and has been on the pitch for just a little over 90 minutes in 2023. It is clear that manager Carlo Ancelotti does not count on him any longer.
Given that he is the highest earner at the club by some distance, Real Madrid are looking to show him the exit doors in the summer. However, according to MARCA (h/t Madrid Zone), Hazard is determined to stay put at the club until 2024, when his contract expires.
It is claimed that the former Belgian international has shown no desire to search for a new club despite his situation at the Santiago Bernabeu and wishes to fulfil his contract at the club.
The former Chelsea superstar has always maintained as much when it came to his future. However, in a past interview, he had insisted that he would consider leaving if the club wanted him out.
“If Real Madrid tells me I need to leave in the summer, I’ll accept it,” he had said in a rare interview just before the World Cup last year.
But, that does not seem to be the case as things stand as Hazard intends to remain at the club for one more year, when his contract runs out.
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.
