Kylian Mbappé took the match ball home after scoring a hat-trick against Real Valladolid.
Getty ImagesSaturday night will go down in the history books as a key moment in Kylian Mbappé’s Real Madrid career as he scored his first hat-trick for the Spanish soccer giants.
The French international scored a goal in each half before he wrapped up his treble with a penalty kick which he converted in injury time of the second half. As is tradition when scoring three goals in the same game, Mbappé left with the match ball as a souvenir of the occasion.
Following the completion of the game, cameras from Real Madrid TV captured sight of Mbappé with his match ball, revealing some of the messages written on it by his teammates. As reported by MARCA, there was a collection of different messages visible.
“To many more, Kiki. You’re great,” wrote left-back Fran García. Fede Valverde also put “Crack”, the Spanish term for an expert, while Jude Bellingham wrote a message in English to put “Congrats, my nine” referring to the center-forward’s jersey number.
Others went down a French theme with their congratulations to Mbappé, as Rodrygo Goes wrote “Great, straight to Paris” and Brahim Díaz put “Ooh la la, bro”.
One of the most intriguing was that of club captain Luka Modrić, who wrote “pressing monster” on the ball. Mbappé had been criticized early in the season for his lack of pressing, but has clearly done enough to earn the respect of his veteran team-mates.
Kylian Mbappé’s 20th career hat-trick
The treble was Kylian Mbappé’s 20th career hat-trick and his first for Real Madrid. Two of those have come for AS Monaco, including his first in December 2016, and 14 came for Paris Saint-Germain, with the last sealing a win over Montpellier in March 2024.
This was only his third hat-trick at club level outside of domestic French competition, having previously scored three against Club Brugge and Barcelona in the Champions League in 2019 and 2021 respectively.
Mbappé has also scored three for France, most notably in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar despite his team’s defeat on penalties, in addition to others against Kazakhstan and Gibraltar.
Mbappé on his first Real Madrid hat-trick
After the game, Kylian Mbappé also spoke about the importance of the collective team as Real Madrid moved four points clear at the top of the La Liga standings with 20 games played.
“I’m happy with the hat trick, but I’m more happy with the win,” Mbappé told Real Madrid TV, as carried by ESPN. “It was very important to win today. After Atleti’s result, there was more pressure.”
“I can say that I have to help the whole team. I want more, if I’m top scorer that’s fine, I’ve done it many times in my career, but I want to win titles and the league, which is the most important thing for me,” he added, speaking to the media after the game.
Mbappé will now hope to continue his recent run of form, with eight goals scored in his last five games, in the UEFA Champions League fixture against Brest on Wednesday evening.
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