Liverpool star tipped to REPLACE Real Madrid flop Mbappe | OneFootball

It’s fair to say that Kylian Mbappe hasn’t exactly had the dream start at Real Madrid.

It started well enough with a goal in the UEFA Super Cup on his debut. Real then strung together league wins as is the norm for them in La Liga, with Mbappe himself going on a four-game scoring run in September.

But it all came crashing down with a loss to Lille in the Champions League, the need for a huge comeback against Dortmund, and then an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home to arch-rivals Barcelona.

Mbappe himself was caught offside eight times in El Clasico, joint-most in a La Liga game since 2009. Madrid then fell to a 3-1 home loss against Milan in the Champions League just four days ago.

Now, the French captain has been dropped from the national side by coach Didier Deschamps ahead of the upcoming international window.

"I had several discussions with him and I made this decision… because I think it's better this way.” Deschamps said. “We are on three consecutive victories. We must ensure our qualification for the final eight and to be able to play for first place."

New captain required

Deschamps did specify that not selecting Mbappe was a one-off, but it is still a seismic decision.

Aside from Mbappe’s struggles, it opens up a question of who will captain France next week.

French outlet RMC Sport is reporting that Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate is in contention for the armband, alongside Barcelona’s Jules Kounde and Al-Ittihad’s N’Golo Kante.

“Konaté is a pillar of the Liverpool rearguard,” writes RMC, whilst also noting that Kounde has developed under new Barcelona manager Hansi Flick, whilst Kante has held the armband previously.