Mbappe’s Penalty Nightmare Sparks Fury as Real Madrid Stumble Under Mourinho

It was Troy Parrott, once on Mourinho’s books at Tottenham Hotspur, who did the damage. In the 81st minute he pounced on a loose ball after Real Madrid failed to clear a corner, poking home from close range to send the home crowd wild.

There was drama to come. Substitute Carlos Espi thought he had rescued a point with a late equaliser, only to see it chalked off for offside. Then, deep into injury time, Mbappe stepped up to take a penalty that could have salvaged the night. Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles got down to save it.

Real Madrid were livid, insisting the spot kick should have been retaken because Marc Bartra had strayed forward before the ball was struck. Referees looked at it and disagreed. Bartra’s foot, it turned out, had not crossed into the box at the precise moment Mbappe made contact.

By then, though, the damage to Mbappe’s reputation was already done. He missed four big chances across the ninety minutes, lost eight individual duels, and capped it all off by fluffing his lines from twelve yards. The French and Spanish press did not hold back.

How the papers reacted

Journal du Real handed Mbappe a brutal 2 out of 10, calling it a performance to forget and accusing him of vanishing exactly when his team needed him most. His pressing was branded stingy, his final touches imprecise. Even Le Parisien, usually gentler on its own, admitted the forward had endured a rare night without a flicker of joy in front of goal.

Foot Mercato zeroed in on one moment in particular, the miss after Vinicius Junior teed him up with the goalkeeper already beaten. Mbappe’s first effort was so weak it cannoned off a defender, and he could not make amends on the rebound either.

Spanish outlet ElDesmarque went furthest of all, awarding him a miserly 1 out of 10 and describing his finishing as wasteful and his play in dangerous areas as selfish.

Mourinho refuses to point the finger

Not everyone was so quick to pile on. Mourinho, never one to throw a player under the bus in public, chose instead to take aim at the officiating.

“The Betis players are smarter than the Real Madrid players, who are pure, naive,” he told reporters afterwards. “We’re naive in the sense that Betis players try to influence the referee’s decision over the smallest things.

“But I’m very happy with my players, all of them. As a team, I really liked them, and individually I have absolutely nothing to criticise. And the missed penalty is like I always say, when one of us goes to take a penalty, we all go together.”

There is little time to dwell on it. Real Madrid host Inter Milan on Tuesday in their Champions League opener, before Rayo Vallecano visit the Bernabeu next Saturday in La Liga. Mbappe will be desperate to put Friday night behind him quickly.