Mbappe Reaches Rare Real Madrid Milestone

Kylian Mbappe has now written another chapter in the history of Real Madrid as he became the second player in the club history (after Cristiano Ronaldo) to score 53 or more goals in a single calendar year. The French superstar reached the milestone when Real Madrid was drawing Girona 1-1 on November 30, scoring the only goal in the game on behalf of Los Blancos and further proving his phenomenal contribution to the club in the first full year with the club.

The success is indicative of the persistence of Mbappe in 2024. Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved or even exceeded the 53-goal threshold on five occasions in his nine sparkling seasons in Madrid and his Mbappe early breakthrough has given birth to comparisons between the two modern superstars of the sport. But Mbappe has also made it clear several times that he is forging his own identity–even though Ronaldo has always remained his long-term idol and role model.

His last recording is only three days after he created one of the most dominating European performances of the season. Mbappe became the fourth player in the history of Real Madrid to score four goals against Olympiacos on November 27, 2020, in the UEFA Champions League. That is what Ronaldo accomplished last in 2015 against Malmo.

On the same game, Mbappe broke yet another Ronaldo record the fastest hat-trick in Real Madrid history in the Champions League. He scored in only seven minutes, surpassing Ronaldo who has previously scored a hat-trick in the same game in Malmo in eleven minutes in 2015.

At the beginning of the season, Mbappe made no secret of the fact that he admires Ronaldo, saying that he was his model player at Madrid. He further stated that though the fans are still dreaming about Cristiano, he is firmly bound to his own way.

But each week which passes, it becomes more apparent: the career of Mbappe is already turning into one of the most legendary ones that a player has ever had in the Santiago Bernabeu.