Kylian Mbappe will begin his third season at Real Madrid hoping to turn remarkable scoring numbers into major silverware, following a path that bears striking similarities to Cristiano Ronaldo’s early years at the Spanish club.
Real Madrid are preparing for the 2026-27 campaign with ambitious targets after appointing Jose Mourinho as manager. The Portuguese coach has made competing for every available trophy a priority and is expected to rely heavily on Mbappe, the leading attacking figure in his squad.
Mbappe has scored prolifically since joining Real Madrid, but his first two seasons in the Spanish capital have not brought the major honours expected by the club and its supporters.
During those opening campaigns, the France forward won the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup with Real Madrid. However, he has yet to celebrate victory in La Liga or the UEFA Champions League.
That lack of major success mirrors Ronaldo’s own start at Real Madrid. According to Spanish website Defensa Central, the Portuguese forward also went without either of those two leading trophies during his first two seasons before his fortunes changed in his third campaign.
The comparison is strengthened by their scoring records at a similar age. Mbappe has now scored 86 goals for Real Madrid, the same total Ronaldo had reached by the beginning of his third season in the Spanish capital.
Ronaldo completed his first season, 2009-10, without winning La Liga or the UEFA Champions League. The pattern continued in 2010-11, a campaign in which Mourinho took charge of the team.
The following season marked the start of a trophy-winning period for Ronaldo at Real Madrid. Under Mourinho, he helped the club win La Liga in 2011-12 in what became known as the “record-breaking league” campaign.
Real Madrid officials and supporters will hope Mbappe can reproduce that sequence of events by winning his first major trophy with the club during his third season. The prospect has added significance because Mourinho has returned to lead the team.
The similarities between the two forwards are not limited to team honours. Mbappe’s individual output during his first two seasons has also been exceptional.
He won the Pichichi award as La Liga’s leading scorer in both of his first two seasons with Real Madrid. In the 2025-26 edition, he scored 25 goals, further establishing himself among the club’s most prolific marksmen. His overall tally for Real Madrid reached 86 goals after two seasons, matching Ronaldo’s output over a broadly similar period of his career at the club.
Those figures create a significant challenge for Mbappe in the new campaign. He must now convert individual success into collective achievement after failing to secure one of the club’s major trophies in his first two seasons.
Mourinho has expressed strong confidence in the forward and expects him to produce the best version of himself for Real Madrid this season.
The manager described Mbappe as a player of an “exceptional level” and said he did not want to focus too heavily on what happened last season. Instead, Mourinho intends to concentrate on what the France international can deliver in the next stage of his career.
He also believes Mbappe reported for pre-season earlier than scheduled, viewing that as a positive indication of the player’s desire to prepare for the campaign and work under the new coaching staff.
Mbappe enters his third season at Real Madrid under considerable pressure, but his outstanding goalscoring record and Mourinho’s backing provide reasons for optimism. The central question is whether he can follow Ronaldo’s example and make his third campaign the beginning of a new era of success and trophies at the Bernabeu.
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