Kylian Mbappe is quietly proving a point Real Madrid fans suspected all along

Real Madrid had a rough night against Espanyol, but they were able to prevail 2-1 at the last gasp, thanks to the heroics of new striker Carlos Espi off the bench. While he was far from the worst performer on the pitch and actually did a great job of creating chances, Kylian Mbappe, once again, failed to score despite receiving ample opportunities to do so.

In total, the Frenchman, coming off the Golden Boot at the World Cup, suddenly ran cold against a top La Liga defense. Mbappe did an amazing job of creating chances for himself with great turns and explosive runs, but with the 10 shots he had at the Espanyol goal, Mbappe could not put a single one in the back of the net.

Real Madrid fans noticed how bad of a conversion rate Mbappe had last season, and while he won the Pichichi trophy yet again last season, he barely won it by a couple of goals over Vedat Muriqi, who was the starting striker for relegated Mallorca. In terms of goals to shot conversion, Mbappe was way behind even Gonzalo Garcia on his own team and had a worse rate than either Luka Jovic or Mariano Diaz in the past decade.

Kylian Mbappe failed to silence the critics

Madridistas are putting the pressure on Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior to perform better this season under Jose Mourinho, but that was not the case against Espanyol on Matchday 1. In fact, it was a lot of more of the same for Real Madrid, and if it were not for Jude Bellingham and Carlos Espi, Real would have suffered a shock upset on the road.

Unlike Vinicius Junior, who was truly abhorrent on Saturday night in this matchup, at least Kylian Mbappe was active and creating real chances for himself with incisive runs. But Vini could also argue that Mbappe had it easier in the middle, able to take up more attacing positions instead of being isolated on the left.

For Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid fans, though, the most important stat is 0. And that's the number of goals Mbappe had despite getting 10 shots. Some of it is down to luck of the finish, maybe, but you make your own luck, and you have to have that mentality as an elite footballer. Real Madrid fans are doubting if Mbappe has what it takes to be the main striker for Real Madrid, and he did not quell those doubts vs. Espanyol.