Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has insisted he wants star forward Kylian Mbappe to contribute more goals over helping the team while they press.
The European and LaLiga champions have not been at their best this season and are on the hunt for a more effective way to get the Frenchman firing since his arrival from Paris Saint-Germain.
Los Blancos were defeated in their travel to Lille in their last Champions League contest and they host Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday in a rematch of last season’s final which they won to claim a 15th crown.
“I prefer that [Mbappe] scores goals than he presses,” Ancelotti said in his news conference.
“The central striker position in our team has not changed, I ask him the same I asked of Karim [Benzema, who left in 2023].
“To be well positioned and to be ready every time we get the ball back to make a rapid transition.”
Mbappe has netted eight goals for Madrid across 12 games in all competitions this season, in comparison to Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski’s 14 in 12 appearances.
The 25-year-old also had criticism from his homeland for not playing in France’s recent Nations League games after recovering from a thigh injury.
Swedish media also reported he is being investigated over an alleged rape case in Stockholm following a trip there during the international break, which Mbappe labelled as “fake news”.
Another ripple effect of Mbappe’s arrival at Madrid is a more deeper role for Jude Bellingham, who was pivotal to Los Blancos’ attacking setup last season.
The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder is yet to find the back of the net for the club this season in nine games, after netting 10 in his first 10 appearances last term.
“We’re satisfied with his work… because he works a lot on the pitch, he’s always there, he competes, fights, sacrifices himself,” Ancelotti added.
“The truth is he hasn’t scored the goals he did last year, but the surprise isn’t this year, it’s last year, he scored a heap of goals that no-one expected…
“We’ve always scored goals and we’ll always score goals, we have players with great attacking talent up front… so for us at this moment, the work he is doing is much more important for us.”
