Are Real Madrid better without Kylian Mbappé? Here’s what this season’s numbers say

Los Blancos problems 

Real Madrid’s season hasn’t exactly gone to plan. Alongside an early exit in the Spanish Cup third round and defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the Spanish giants could also cede the LaLiga title to Barcelona if they aren’t able to beat their historic rivals in El Clásico on Sunday. Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong for Los Blancos in the past few months. And it seems as though the trouble is only getting started.

According to The Athletic, star striker Kylian Mbappé was involved in a training ground spat with members of the coaching staff ahead of a recent league clash with Real Betis. The publication claims that several people at the club were critical of Mbappé’s behaviour, which was then followed by the Frenchman being spotted taking a break in Italy with his partner. This then led to interim head coach Alvaro Arbeloa needing to respond to questions from the media about fan frustration over Mbappé jetting off on a break during a difficult period of the season.

“In their free time, each player does what they see fit, and I don’t get involved in that,” said the Madrid coach. “All planning regarding injured players is supervised and managed by Madrid’s medical staff, who are the ones who decide when they need to go to Valdebebas (the club’s training centre) and when they don’t.” Fans will now wait to see whether the club’s star striker will be back and ready to play in Sunday’s all-important clash with Barca. But there may also be some growing concerns over the team’s overall performance this season, with Mbappé leading the line.

Have Real Madrid been better without Mbappé?

Mbappé’s persistent injuries have led to the player missing 10 games across all competitions in 2026 and 11 in total across the entire season. That, in turn, has given Madrid fans enough opportunities to watch their team without the world’s most valuable player. And while 11 games is by no means a huge sample size, it does give an indication of whether Madrid have been better or worse with Mbappé in the starting XI this season.

As we can see in the table above, Madrid have actually averaged more points per game without their French talent than with him in all competitions this season. If we equate every game won or drawn in cup competitions as three and one point respectively, the numbers state that Madrid have averaged 2.10 points per game with Mbappé but 2.18 without him. Curiously, the same can be said of Madrid’s attacking output, with the Spanish giants actually averaging 2.45 goals per game with Mbappé out of the team and just 2.05 with him in it.

This, perhaps, will come as no great surprise to Madrid fans. Despite leading the club’s goalscoring charts this season, Mbappé’s role in the team has often overlapped with Vinicius Jr’s. While Jude Bellingham, the club’s industrious attacking midfielder with 30 goals and assists last season in all competitions, has been forced to curtail his dribbles and runs into the box to accommodate Madrid’s No.9. As such, Mbappé has been shoe-horned into Madrid’s team to varying degrees of success, as opposed to the team being built around him to get the best results.

This, undoubtedly, explains why Madrid have failed to win any titles this season. But it may grow into a far bigger issue than just a one-season hiccup in domestic and continental competitions. Whether it be training-ground arguments or tactical puzzles, Mbappé and Madrid clearly aren’t in sync. And whoever is tasked with replacing Arbeloa next season will have to fix that before they can even begin to get Madrid back on track in LaLiga or the Champions League.