Will Mbappé lose his starting spot? Why Real's new Raúl could benefit him

Yahoo

2 days ago

Sure, fundamentally Kylian Mbappé doesn't have much in common with an SPD party chairman, but these days he's somewhat like Real Madrid's Lars Klingbeil: he lacks support within his own ranks.
The popularity ratings of the French star striker are actually even more dramatic than the 64.9 percent Klingbeil had to accept at last week's party conference in Berlin. According to a survey by the Spanish portal 'El Chiringuito', only 38.5 percent of Real fans see what is probably their most important player in the starting lineup. When it comes to dealing with these catastrophic poll numbers, however, Mbappé doesn't have to analyze an election disaster or anything of the sort—he just has to watch the Club World Cup.
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The 26-year-old has been forced to watch from the sidelines recently anyway. Mbappé was out for over two weeks with a stomach flu and had to watch as Real fans fell in love with another striker, who now holds the 61.5 percent that Mbappé is currently missing: Gonzalo García.
García has been involved in four goals in Real's four Club World Cup matches so far, currently filling in for Mbappé at the center forward position. He's being celebrated online and has even been compared by coach Xabi Alonso to one of the greats.
'For me, it's not so surprising what he's doing. In many ways, he reminds me of Raúl,' the new Real coach recently explained, and he certainly knows what he's talking about: as a player, he shared the pitch with Raúl 60 times and, by his own account, followed many games of Real's second team last season.
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What he means by the comparison: García is a classic poacher, but he doesn't rely on physicality—instead, it's his strong instincts in the box that set him apart. He rarely outruns defenders, because he's usually already in the right place. In a Real squad full of attacking players who are brilliant on the ball, it's García's off-the-ball genius that is enchanting everyone right now.
For the fans, however, there's another aspect of the Raúl comparison that matters: he's one of their own. Just like the legendary striker, García comes from Real's own youth academy. And at Los Blancos, that's something special. While FC Barcelona regularly turns La Masia talents into big stars, Real's best players in recent years have almost always come from elsewhere. That also explains why a relatively average striker like Joselu, who played for Real's youth teams before his odyssey through European football, was so popular with the supporters.
But back to Mbappé: What if not only the fans, but also Alonso, sees García as a permanent starter? Should Real's actual first-choice striker suddenly worry about his future in Madrid?
If we assume that Gonzalo García really is Real's new Raúl: probably not. Because if you think about when and how Raúl worked best at Real, you quickly land at the time when he formed a strike partnership with the real Ronaldo. And it's precisely that role that Mbappé might even fill better than that of a lone number nine. With Raúl as his strike partner, R9 was able to drift wide, use his great speed, and attack the spaces where he was most effective.
📸 Megan Briggs - 2025 Getty Images
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For Mbappé, who has often struggled in the center at Real, an additional striker could actually be a kind of liberation. And who knows, maybe one day not only Kylian Mbappé, but also a club in Germany will get to enjoy Real's new striker. Because if he really is the new Raúl, then maybe in about 16 years we'll hear: Bienvenido a Schalke, Gonzalo García!
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 CHANDAN KHANNA - AFP or licensors