French striker’s hattrick helps Real Madrid demolish Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu | OneFootball

Last season, Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund to lift the UEFA Champions League for a record 15th time. It was a fairytale season for the Los Blancos as they lifted the La Liga title and Spanish Super Cup as well.

A few months later, the Kylian Mbappe saga came to an end after the Frenchman joined the club for free from Paris Saint-Germain, fulfilling his dream and Florentino Perez’s goal to bring arguably the world’s best player to the club.

He had a slow start to the season, with glimpses of brilliance and sometimes absolutely shambolic performances against the likes of FC Barcelona and Liverpool.

Until December, Mbappe was termed as a signing that wasn’t needed and that Real Madrid were better off without him.

Since the loss against Athletic Bilbao the same month, the World Cup winner has turned his season around, with the hattrick against Manchester City being the highlight so far.

This was perhaps the most perfect game to watch as a Real Madrid fan. Fluidity in midfield and the linkup play was pleasing to watch and Mbappe demolished the English side with a brilliant hat-trick.

It took the French striker just four minutes to put the Merengues into the lead and after that he did not look back.

According to Sofascore statistics, he netted 3 goals and had 5 shots on target with 2/2 successful dribbles and 2 key passes, across the 78 minutes he was on the pitch.

He just had a mere 32 touches and a passing accuracy of 70% – but the 26-year-old made every touch count, looking dangerous whenever he had the ball and made the City defence look clueless at times.

All three goals were quality finishes, with the second one in particular the best. He sent Josko Gvardiol sliding and even celebrated in his face after putting the ball into the back of the net.

Mbappe has scored 14 goals in 14 matches since the start of the year and in total has 27 goals in 38 matches in supposedly his “worst” season yet.

Moreover, the Frenchman is 10 goals away from becoming the Real Madrid player with the most goals scored in a debut season – the record currently held by Ivan Zamorano with 37.

Kylian Mbappe’s confidence has been sky-high and it was evident when he mentioned how his adaption phase is over and it was time he started deciding games on his own.

Real Madrid stay alive in the UCL and with the way they played against City, Europe should fear for what’s to come because Carlo Ancelotti’s men have their eyes set on the title and are eager lift it for the 16th time.