Kylian Mbappe opens up on his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo: ‘He is a friend now’ | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s poor season has well and truly kicked off an internal meltdown, and Florentino Perez’s press conference last night appears to be the latest result of the same domino effect.

At this point, fingers are being pointed at all parties involved, including the president, the board, the manager and the players themselves.

Among the players too, the spotlight shines brighter on the leaders of the dressing room and Kylian Mbappe is one of the players who is being targeted as the problem.

Mbappe speaks on his idol

Speaking to Vanity Fair in a recent interview, the under-fire Real Madrid star was asked about his idol Cristiano Ronaldo and the advice that he has received from the club legend.

He began by explaining how he was close to Ronaldo now and in contact with the Portuguese legend.

“He is a friend now. It’s so great when people you idolise when you’re young become your friends.”

Mbappe says he is now friends with Ronaldo. (Photo credit should read CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

“We used to talk a lot, and he helped me in my first year at Madrid, because he knows it very well,” he added.

Concluding on his relationship with the legend and how it made him feel to be so close to a childhood idol, Mbappe said,

“We have a wonderful relationship and I’m very happy with it.”

While Mbappe may indeed be racking up Ronaldo-level numbers for Real Madrid in terms of goals, he is seemingly not impacting the team in the same way as the Portuguese legend did.

Instead of improving and playing better as a unit with Mbappe on the field, Real Madrid’s dynamism and work rate suffer, leading to the team playing in a more rigid, less flexible manner. 

There is, thus, a long way to go before Mbappe’s Real Madrid can feature on the same page as Ronaldo’s Real Madrid, irrespective of the individual goalscoring numbers.