December 10: The day it clicked for Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League

November 27, 2024, Anfield. Kylian Mbappe ends up flat on his back after a thunderous Conor Bradley tackle, has a penalty saved by Caoimhin Kelleher, and sees his new Real Madrid team leave bruised and beaten 2-0 by Liverpool. Fast-forward just under three months, and the Frenchman is on top of the world after his hat-trick dumped Manchester City out of the UEFA Champions League. What changed?

"I felt that was the turning point in his season. After that, he was a different player."

Kylian Mbappe has his signature UEFA Champions League night in Real Madrid colours.

A rampant, high-class hat-trick saw the French forward fire Los Blancos into the last 16 at the expense of a chastened Manchester City on Wednesday night.

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Perhaps it was always inevitable Mbappe would come good at the Santiago Bernabeu and be compared to his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo, who made this competition his own during a golden period between 2014-18 when he and Madrid won four titles.

But earlier this campaign, the noises around Mbappe couldn't have been more different, with the 26-year-old admitting he hit "rock-bottom" after missing a penalty against Athletic Club in La Liga.

Mbappe had - a week earlier - also missed a penalty in the Champions League against Liverpool, being left in a heap as his side sunk to a 2-0 loss.

'Absolutely massive!' - Mbappe penalty saved in style by Kelleher

Video credit: TNT Sports

"They needed him to do something, and he flattered to deceive," TNT Sports' Steve McManaman said after that defeat to Arne Slot's side.

"That was his moment. He just didn't deliver again when needed to."

So how did Mbappe go from this nadir, to the sky-high feeling post-City?

Julien Laurens, a long-time follower of Mbappe's career, recently identified the moment he felt everything changed.

"The fact that he spoke to a French TV show [in late November] freed him a bit," Laurens told TNT Sports.

"After that, he was a different player. To talk about everything that went wrong at the start of the season really helped him to process things.

'Fabulous goal' - Mbappe fires Real in front at Atalanta

Video credit: TNT Sports

"After that, it was the game against Atalanta [on December 10] where he scored a lovely goal, got slightly injured and had to come off, but I felt that was the turning point in his season."

Mbappe's numbers bear out Laurens' theory:

	Games	Goals	Goals per game
Before Dec 10	21	11	0.52
After Dec 10	16	16	1.00

Mbappe has almost doubled his goals-per-game ratio since the start of that Atalanta game, helping turn a hitherto spluttering Madrid into the purring machine seen against City.

What does Mbappe himself think was behind the turnaround?

"In my opinion, the problem was that I was overthinking too much," he said late last month.

"You can see it in the games. While I was adapting, I was thinking too much about how to do everything, how to move, where to move, should I go more to the left, will I step too much into Vini's area, will I step too much into Rodrygo's area.

"Overthinking everything. And when I'm thinking too much I'm not playing my game well."

Mbappe 'running riot' as he sits down Gvardiol to double Real lead

Video credit: TNT Sports

Mbappe 'can reach Ronaldo's level'

After watching his man shine in the second leg, Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti was moved to make a comparison between Mbappe and Ronaldo.

"He [Mbappe] has the quality to reach the level of Cristiano [Ronaldo]," the Italian said.

"He has to work, because Cristiano has set the bar very high. He has just started at this club.

"I think that, because of the quality he has, because of the enthusiasm he has playing here, he can reach the level of Cristiano Ronaldo. It's not going to be that simple for him. He has to work."

Mbappe has already surpassed Ronaldo in reaching 500 career goal contributions at a younger age, but what other Ronaldo records could he now target?

All-time UCL stats	Ronaldo	Mbappe
Appearances	187	83
UCL titles	5	0
Goals	141	55
Most goals in a UCL season	17	8
Hat-tricks	8	3
Penalties scored	19	6
Assists	42	24

Stats per UEFA

With a possible decade or more still ahead of him at the top level, you wouldn't put it past the Frenchman to make more history in the Champions League.

TNT Sports will show over 500 matches from the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League across the 2024/25 season. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+

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