Real Madrid were handed a 4-2 defeat by former boss Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in a result that will see them having to fight it out in the knockout playoffs of the Champions League. It was a result that Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe described as a “deserved” result.
Mbappe was not in the mood to hold back after the result, pointing out in particular that Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring on them was “embarrassing”. The Ukrainian goalkeeper scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time with a dramatic header when Real Madrid were down to nine players, thanks to Raul Asencio and Rodrygo getting sent off.
“We played badly. After the 3-2, the fourth goal didn’t change anything, but it’s embarrassing that the goalkeeper scored. It’s not normal,” Mbappe said after the match. “The third goal doesn’t change much either; it just adds more frustration. We were coming off three good-level games and couldn’t sustain it.”
While dissecting the reason for defeat, Mbappe said: “I don’t have a clear explanation. We lack continuity in our play, and that’s something we need to fix. A champion team can’t perform well one day and poorly the next. It hurts because we wanted to reach February with some margin to improve, but we deserve the position we’re in,” Mbappe said in the mixed zone after the match.
“Benfica were playing for their lives and we didn’t look like we were playing for ours. That was the big problem of the game. At the start, both teams had things to play for, we were in the top 8 and they were in the top 24. We saw Benfica, but we didn’t see what was at stake.”
While the result means that Real Madrid will have to fight it out in the knockouts to make it to the last 16, the Spanish heavyweights might end up facing Benfica again. The bracket for the playoffs means the ninth-place team, Madrid, can be drawn only against the team that placed either 23rd or 24th. That is, respectively, Bodo/Glimt or Benfica.
“In football, games start on 0 minutes and not 45 minutes, so in the end the defeat is deserved. I can’t say it’s not deserved because we didn’t play well to win this game. We didn’t play well and they did. Benfica at home is always difficult. We knew it before and I think it was our fault.”
Mbappe pointed out how the team needed to be more consistent.
“Last week we played well, and now we didn’t. We need consistency. We’re missing a bit of everything. I can’t say it’s just attitude or just football-it’s something general. In the Champions League, every detail counts, and if you’re not prepared to win, it shows.”
