Article: Should Real Madrid repeat the Cristiano experience with Mbappé?

Real Madrid, under the guidance of Portuguese coach José Mourinho, faces a significant tactical dilemma in finding true harmony between Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Junior, and Jude Bellingham, alongside the rest of the team's stars, especially given the squad's collection of players capable of making a difference offensively.

The question that arises at Santiago Bernabéu is: Does Real Madrid need to repeat the experience they had with Cristiano Ronaldo and make Mbappé the team's star?

During Ronaldo's era, Real Madrid not only relied on the exceptional abilities of the Portuguese star but also built a system to help him achieve his best numbers. Ronaldo played a key role in finishing attacks and scoring goals, while big stars like Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić, and others provided the right conditions for him to continue shining.

This did not mean that the other players were less important; on the contrary, Real Madrid's success was based on a collective system. However, the roles were clear, and Cristiano Ronaldo was the player who received the most support in the final third of the pitch, being the most important attacking weapon.

Now, it seems that Real Madrid has a player capable of playing this role again, Kylian Mbappé, who possesses exceptional scoring ability and may be the most decisive player in front of goal for the team. This raises the idea of rebuilding the attacking system around him instead of trying to give all the stars the same roles.

The presence of Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Arda Güler, and others gives Mourinho tremendous attacking options, but the real challenge lies in distributing roles among them in a way that prevents overlap and allows each player to exploit their strengths.

If Kylian Mbappé is the player most capable of scoring, it makes sense for him to take on the biggest role in finishing attacks, while Vinicius Junior becomes a more focused element on creating danger and space, allowing Jude Bellingham the freedom to move and connect between midfield and attack.

The idea does not mean sacrificing Vinicius Junior or Bellingham, but rather giving each player a clear role within the system, just as happened during the golden years of Real Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The striking thing is that this system has not prevented Real Madrid from achieving success; rather, it has helped them reach the highest levels, as each player knows their role. The team understands when to look for Cristiano Ronaldo to finish the attack and when to give him space to move, while the others take care of creating opportunities and providing support.

Real Madrid may need a new version of this idea with Kylian Mbappé, especially as the team seeks to regain its path to trophies after two seasons without titles, which does not align with the ambitions of the royal club or the caliber of stars present in its squad.

Mourinho faces a tough task as having four or five players capable of making a difference does not necessarily mean the team will become stronger. In fact, identifying the key star and distributing roles may be among the most important keys to success.

In the end, Real Madrid may not need to search for a new recipe; perhaps the answer is already in front of them in one of their most successful historical experiments: making Mbappé the star player and building a complete system to help him shine, just as the team did with Cristiano Ronaldo.