Why Kylian Mbappe needs Liverpool to defeat Real Madrid in the Champions League final

The 2021/22 Champions League final is taking place in Paris, but the city’s biggest superstar will be a mere spectator, as Kylian Mbappe was knocked out at the last 16 stage, despite his best efforts against Real Madrid. Now, he’ll watch the Spanish club take on Liverpool at the Stade de France and, even though he is expected to move to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in the summer, Mbappe should hope that Liverpool prevail.

If the 23-year-old does join Real Madrid, arriving at the same time as another European Cup is placed in the Bernabeu’s trophy room will put so much more pressure on his shoulders.

If Los Blancos finish the 2021/22 season by winning the Champions League, LaLiga Santander and Spanish Super Cup trophies, it is very unlikely that they’ll be able to better that in 2022/23. But, anything less will be viewed as a step back and that’d be problematic for Mbappe, especially if he is the only difference between the current group and next year’s squad.

Thibaut Courtois’ tsunami

Just ask Thibaut Courtois, who arrived in the Spanish capital in the summer of 2018 just after the team's third consecutive Champions League. The Belgian endured what he has since referred to as “a tsunami” in his first season, taking over the goalkeeper job from Keylor Navas because he was a better player but failing to achieve the same continental success as the Costa Rican.

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When Guardiola arrived at the European champions

Or look at how Pep Guardiola’s time at Bayern Munich is viewed. That situation is actually quite similar to that of Mbappe and Real Madrid, since the hire of the Catalan was an arrival that the Bayern fanbase knew was coming, long before the team actually reached and won the 2012/13 Champions League final. For Guardiola to replace Jupp Heynckes and fail to win the Champions League in any of his three seasons in Munich is now viewed as a failure by many, simply because they’d won it weeks before his arrival.

Guardiola found the subsequent UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup campaigns awkward, since they came early into his tenure and since he hadn’t earned those tickets himself. Even if a Real Madrid victory against Liverpool on May 28th would present Mbappe with the chance to win those same two trophies, the Frenchman would surely prefer to earn participation in those glamour ties himself.

The ideal scenario for Mbappe would be to arrive at Real Madrid this summer with Los Blancos having failed to win the Champions League in any of the four post-Cristiano Ronaldo seasons. Then, if he later leads them back to the top step of European football, he’ll be viewed as the man who made the difference. Otherwise, the tsunami of pressure could be overwhelming.