Comparing Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo after two full seasons at Real Madrid | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappe is Real Madrid‘s biggest superstar signing since Cristiano Ronaldo back in 2009 – but how does he stack up against his idol after two full seasons? The parallels are closer than you might think.

Both players boast outrageous numbers. But, in their first two seasons at least, they’ve been starved of silverware, eating the dust of a dominant Barcelona team.

Like Ronaldo at the turn of the 2010s, Mbappe’s individual output has been outrageous. He’s scored goals at an astonishing rate, winning his first European Golden Shoe, and further established himself as one of Europe’s most devastating forwards.

You could argue that aside from trophies, he’s looked every inch the Galactico Madrid thought they were signing. Aside from the comparatively minor UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Intercontinental Cup – trophies lifted off the back of a Champions League lifted before his arrival – the big trophies have remained out of reach for France’s all-time top goalscorer.

But it was a similar story for Ronaldo back in the day. The Portuguese superstar didn’t win any trophies in his debut season at the Bernabeu, while in his second year he had to stomach Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona retaining their La Liga crown and winning another Champions League (knocking out Los Blancos en route). He did, at least, score the winning goal in a Copa del Rey final victory over Barca that year.

It wasn’t until season three that Ronaldo’s trophy cabinet started to match his goalscoring return. He notched 60 goals in all competitions in 2011-12 and fired Madrid to their first La Liga title in four years. His manager that year? Jose Mourinho. A good omen for Mbappe, perhaps.

Mbappe has actually scored exactly as many goals as Ronaldo had for Madrid after two full seasons, but he’s played considerably more games and minutes, notched more penalties, and only registered half as many assists. He still has to take his game up another level if he’s to match prime Ronaldo.

“Look after the lad,” Ronaldo told El Chiringuito back in February 2015.

“The fans need to look after him. He’s very good. The club have to help to protect him, I have no doubt he’ll bring a lot of joy to Madrid fans.”

“I love [Mbappe], not just because of his story as a kid, how he loved Cristiano, I was his idol.

“It’s complicated, because he doesn’t know how to play as a forward in my opinion — or rather, it’s not that he doesn’t know, but it isn’t his position. If I was at Madrid, I’d show him how to play as a number nine.

“I wasn’t a forward. I got used to it, but I was a winger. People forget that. I was a forward, but not a typical forward. I think [Mbappe] shouldn’t be a typical forward, he should do things his way.”

Here’s how Ronaldo and Mbappe compare after their first two seasons at Real Madrid: