Kylian Mbappe’s start to life at Real Madrid has certainly been eventful, to say the least.

The most-talked about transfer in world football was finally completed this summer with the French forward joining the reigning Champions League holders from Paris Saint-Germain.

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Given Mbappe’s standing in the game and the huge sums of money involved in the deal, expectations were always going to be sky-high around the 25-year-old.

Unfortunately, a player of such status must take the rough with the smooth and Mbappe has done that with huge stories coming out about his legal dispute with PSG over unpaid wages and bonuses and his tumultuous reign as captain of France’s national team leading Emmanuel Petit to claim that fans ‘don’t like him anymore’.

At club level, things have gone far from smoothly for Real Madrid who suffered significant defeats to Lille and AC Milan in the Champions League.

To make things worse they then had the small matter of a 4-0 crushing at the hands of Barcelona in the most recent El Clasico – a defeat made even more bitter by the fact it was in front of Los Blancos’ home fans.

As well as failing to find the net, Mbappe was caught offside eight times during the match at the Santiago Bernabeu, leading to heavy criticism for his start to life in Madrid.

But how does Mbappe’s first 16 matches compare to Real Madrid’s most-decorated forward of the past? We take a look…

Kylian Mbappe

By most people’s standards, Mbappe’s start to life with Real Madrid hasn’t been too bad.

Playing 16 matches so far, the French forward has scored eight times and provided two assists along the way.

Unfortunately those numbers don’t quite tell the full story.

Of those eight goals, only five of them have come from open play with three coming from the penalty spot.

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He’s also scored just once in nearly two months, including some underwhelming performances in big matches against Lille, AC Milan, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund.

Tactically, Mbappe’s transition into the team has been far from seamless, with the 25-year-old playing as a centre-forward, rather than his preferred role off the left.

But with Vinicius Jr occupying that role and bagging 12 goals and seven assists this term, it would be foolish to move the Brazilian to make way for Mbappe.

Still, a goal every two matches for his new club is a decent record and far from disastrous when you look at the cold, hard numbers.

Ronaldo

After joining from Inter Milan in 2002, injury meant that fans had to be patient to get a first glimpse of the Brazilian star.

Ronaldo announced himself in style with two goals on his debut – a substitute appearances against Alaves in which he netted just 61 seconds after coming on.

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In the Galacticos era, Ronaldo was not the only person being relied on for goals with Raul, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane all part of the exciting new era at the club.

But Ronaldo more than played his part, scoring seven goals and offering four assists in his first 16 games for the club – giving him just one more goal contribution than Mbappe after the same amount of games.

Ruud van Nistelrooy

You don’t sign the Dutch forward unless you want a guarantee of goals and that’s exactly what Real Madrid got after signing the striker from Man United in 2006.

In his first 16 matches, Van Nistelrooy netted a staggering 13 goals and provided one assist as well.

Goals are the name of the game for the ex-Red Devil, but his goal return was far from consistent.

Of those 13 goals, seven of them came within just two games with Van Nistelrooy scoring three against Levante on his second appearance for the club, before netting four on a trip to face Osasuna in a 4-0 win.

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But while there were plenty of games where the prolific striker blanked, I’m sure most will only focus on just how clinical he was overall during his relatively short time at Real Madrid.

Playing just 96 times for the club, a tally of 64 goals gave Van Nistelrooy a goals-per-game ratio that will take some beating.

Karim Benzema

While the French forward went on to become a true Real Madrid legend, it was a steady start to life at the Santiago Bernabeu for Benzema.

Having to share the stage with another marquee signing who we’ll get onto shortly, Benzema was far from prolific in his first season with the club.

His first 16 games saw him contribute five goals and four assists – a respectable, but not spectacular return.

Only 22 at the time and still a little bit rough around the edges, Benzema refined his goalscoring output and would go on to score 354 goals for Los Blancos – a reassuring statistic for his fellow countryman Mbappe who is also struggling to find his feet.

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Cristiano Ronaldo

You know the teammate we mentioned who upstaged Benzema? Yeah, it was this guy.

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009 and instantly became the marquee star of the Spanish giants.

Claiming the number nine jersey at first – ahead of Karim Benzema – the Portuguese superstar relished the stage at the Santiago Bernabeu and his goal tally shows why.

In his first 16 games for Real Madrid, Ronaldo netted 15 times and provided two assists along the way.

Always a man for the big occasion, six of those 15 goals came in the Champions League to help him to a tally of 33 goals in 35 appearances in his debut season in Madrid.

While Mbappe may fall into the category of being a slow-burner at the Bernabeu, Ronaldo was anything but and it was that campaign which proved to be the start of a nine-year dynasty that would see him score a staggering 450 goals in 438 games.

AFP