Nobody saw Kylian Mbappe becoming Europe's deadliest long-range shooter
Kylian Mbappe is performing at a very high level this season, despite having a few dips here and there. Mbappe has shown very high quality in some of the matches that Real Madrid have played. Most notably, the game against Barcelona was something that he had to get right because he was tasked almost entirely with scoring goals. He did that, and Real Madrid ended up winning, which was great to see.
That is not all he does, and tap-ins are not all he scores. Contrary to popular belief, people call him a tap-in merchant many times when he has some easy goals or penalties. The truth is, he is actually scoring more goals from outside the box than any other player in the top five leagues since he joined Real Madrid.
Kylian Mbappe has scored 17 goals from outside the box for Real Madrid
According to a stat from Marca, during the time he has spent at Real Madrid, he has scored 17 goals from outside the box. That is the most out of any player in the top five leagues in Europe in that time span. That is an unbelievable stat because people always associate him with scoring penalties and tap-ins. Out of the 100 goals that he has scored, 17% have been from outside the box, which is a very high percentage.
People don't realise how difficult it is to score from outside the box, and they generally don't associate Mbappé as the player who scores the most goals from outside the 18-yard area. That is the truth. People call players like Lamine Yamal, Kevin De Bruyne, and others experts at outside-the-box finishing, but Mbappé scores more goals than anyone in Europe. He also scores the most goals outside the box out of anyone in Europe.
That is something that people will have to think about the next time they try to make an argument about how Mbappé only scores penalties or tap-ins. He didn't score an outside-of-the-box goal against Barcelona, but he didn't need to. He's already at the top of that list, and judging by how many goals he usually scores every season, that number is surely going to go up in future weeks and months.
Mbappé is one of the best players in world football, and over the last five years, he has been the best player overall. Despite not having a Ballon d'Or to show for it, he is incredible at scoring from inside the box. He's incredible at scoring from inside the box, but as shown in this statistic, he is just as good, if not better, from outside the box. It is time people start noticing that because he is making a legitimate case for being the best long-range scorer in the world at the moment.
Like I said before, people wouldn't associate him with that statistic, but it is true. Whatever bias you may have about football and Mbappé in general, stats like this absolutely do not lie, and that is how it is with Mbappé as well.
