Kylian Mbappé impressed with a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s convincing 5-0 win over Champions League newcomers Kairat Almaty, but the Frenchman surprisingly came away from the performance feeling like he could have done more.
Madrid flew 4,000 miles from Western Europe to Central Asia just 19 hours after a humiliating 5–2 defeat to rivals Atlético Madrid, looking to find the groove that had seen Xabi Alonso win his first six La Liga games as well as sweeping past Marseille on Matchday 1 of the Champions League.
After a tentative opening which could perhaps be attributed to the lengthy travel time, Mbappé opened Real Madrid’s account from the penalty spot before going on to score a further two as the 15-time winners eventually matched expectations in Kazakhstan.
For Mbappé, who is now sixth in the list of all-time Champions League goalscorers, it wasn’t enough though. Indeed, one of the early favorites for the 2026 Ballon d’Or suggested that he should actually have punished Kairat a whole lot more than he did.
