Real Madrid still walked out of the RCDE Stadium with three points on Saturday. Carlos Espí’s 90th-minute winner rescued José Mourinho’s first game back in the dugout after Alex Calatrava had cancelled Jude Bellingham’s ninth-minute header, sealing a 2-1 win that felt less settled the longer Mbappé went unanswered.

The Frenchman did not add his name to the scoresheet. He tried. Ten times he tried, and every one of them ended off target, blocked, or saved by Espanyol goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic, most memorably a stop when Mbappé slipped in behind on the right of the area.

The volume of attempts is the story. Post-match StatMuse data made Mbappé the first Real Madrid player to take 10 or more shots in a LaLiga match without scoring since Cristiano Ronaldo did the same in 2018.

Ronaldo’s 2018 blank came at Real Betis

Ronaldo’s marker landed at Real Betis. Twelve attempts, 10 more than any teammate, and no reward, in the season that ended with the Portuguese leaving Madrid for Juventus.

Read also: Premier League clubs blow Europe away after spending staggering £2.37bn before deadline day

That is the awkward part of the parallel for Mbappé. The last Madrid forward to send a double-digit LaLiga barrage into nothing was a striker on his way out of the club. Mbappé is meant to be the striker Real Madrid are building around, not the one echoing a Ronaldo blank from the wrong end.

A short pre-season after the World Cup semi-final

Context is not neutral. Mbappé’s summer was clipped short by France’s semi-final run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where he ran away with the Golden Boot on 10 goals and overtook Lionel Messi at the top of the all-time World Cup scoring list.

He is also playing for a coach he did not sign for. Mourinho was officially appointed on 11 June 2026 on a three-year deal running to 30 June 2029, and inherited the squad rather than built it. His opening lineup sent Bellingham to roam behind Mbappé and leaned on late substitutes, not a Mbappé finish, to force the winner.

Nobody inside Real Madrid will treat a post-match shot chart as a crisis in August. Mourinho’s second era started with three points, Bellingham scored, and Espí won it in the final minute.

Read also: 'You have a nice haircut': Infantino's answer when asked if he betrayed football

Ronaldo’s blank at Betis in 2018 was one afternoon, not a pattern. Mbappé will want the same to be said of his in Barcelona.

Read also: Oscar Piastri suffers major Dutch GP setback as Lando Norris extends McLaren gap