Real Madrid superstar duo continues with its poor run of form with another underwhelming performance

Yahoo

14-03-2025

After playing a gruelling 210 minutes and a penalty shootout, Real Madrid were finally able to get the better of Atletico Madrid in their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.
The Merengues had won the first leg 2-1, with goals from Rodrygo Goes and Brahim Diaz, but lost the second leg 1-0. With the score tied on aggregate, the two teams went into extra time, where they were once again unable to break the deadlock.
Ultimately, things were decided with a penalty shootout, in which Los Blancos emerged victorious by converting 4 penalties, while the Colchoneros converted only 2 of their penalties.
However, with the offensive talent present in the team, most Real Madrid fans would have expected their team to have gotten the better of their cross-city rivals in regulation time.
Hopes were high that their superstar duo of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior would show their magic to get the better of even a team as defensively astute as Atletico Madrid. Particularly so after the Frenchman had scored a hat-trick against Manchester City in his last UCL outing, and because of the Brazilian winger's particularly heated relationship with the Mattress Makers.
However, as has been the case for the last few weeks, this duo was unable to really stand out with their performances and was also unable to get on the scoresheet throughout this tie.
In the second leg, Mbappe was far from his best but was still able to make things happen. He won a penalty in the second half, that was missed. He also successfully converted the first penalty for his side in the penalty shootout.
As Sofascore statistics show, His passing was still at a very high level, as he recorded a 91% passing success rate by completing 30 of his 33 attempted passes. Furthermore, all of his 4 attempted long passes were also accurate.
However, only 1 of his 6 total dribble attempts was successful and he lost 5 of the 10 ground duels he was engaged in on the night. In total, he lost the ball 15 times in this game.
Still, his performance was significantly better than his colleague in attack, Vinicius Jr., who had a truly forgettable night. The highlight of his miserable performance was the penalty that he missed which Mbappe had won in the 70 minute, and which could have given Real Madrid a win in regulation time.
But his bad performance went beyond just this missed penalty. He was also quite wasteful with his passing, as he completed only 27 of his 35 attempted passes, recording a success rate of 77%. Similarly, he lost possession 26 times in this game, and of the 23 ground duels he was engaged in on the night, he won only 8. Only 3 of his 14 attempted dribbles were successful against Atletico.
Thus, the superstar duo that has the potential to decide games by their individual performances was once again unable to put in an impressive shift against the Colchoneros. Luckily, they still remain alive in the UCL, and hopefully, will prove to be more decisive for Real Madrid in the coming matches.