MADRID (AP) \u2014 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s latest impressive scoring run with Real Madrid has brought up comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo.<\/p>\n
After Mbapp\u00e9 scored his 23rd goal in 22 Spanish league games in Madrid\u2019s 2-0 win at Valencia on Sunday, coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa said the France striker could be well on his way to matching the success of Ronaldo at the Spanish powerhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Cristiano achieved seemed extraterrestrial, something impossible to match and no one could come close,\u201d Arbeloa said. \u201cMbapp\u00e9 has a long way to go because Cristiano was here for many years, but he has the conditions to follow in his footsteps, and you never know if he\u2019ll be able to surpass him. But if anyone can, it\u2019s Kylian.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old Ronaldo, currently playing in Saudi Arabia, played for Madrid from 2009-18, breaking nearly every club record.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Mbapp\u00e9 joined the Spanish powerhouse last season and quickly matched some of the numbers of the Portugal star. Mbapp\u00e9 scored 59 goals in 2025 to equal\u2019s Ronaldo\u2019s club-record tally in 2013.<\/p>\n
At the time, Mbapp\u00e9 called Ronaldo his \u201cidol, the best player in the history of Real Madrid and a reference point in world soccer. It\u2019s an honor for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 started this year on a roll and with even better numbers, having scored nine goals in seven matches. He needed 11 games to reach nine goals last year. He has 43 goals in 35 appearances for club and country this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great fortune, because right now he\u2019s the best player in the world with what he\u2019s proving day in and day out, game after game,\u201d Arbeloa said of Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Arbeloa, who took over the club\u2019s helm this year to replace Xabi Alonso, was a former Madrid defender who was a teammate of Ronaldo at Madrid, playing six seasons with him from 2009-2016.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s France and Madrid teammate Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni also was among those saying Mbapp\u00e9 has what it takes to surpass Ronaldo\u2019s numbers with Madrid, according to Spanish media.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo left the Spanish club with 451 goals in 438 competitive appearances.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9 criticizes referee<\/p>\n
Television cameras caught Mbapp\u00e9 criticizing the officiating crew in the game against Valencia, with the France striker apparently using the word \u201cclown\u201d to talk about one referee. Mbapp\u00e9 seemed to be looking for an explanation for an offside call but the referee didn\u2019t appear to want to talk to the player. <\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s Madrid has won seven in a row in the Spanish league and sits one points behind leader Barcelona after 23 matches. It will face Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s Benfica in the first knockout phase of the Champions League.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/p>\n
Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID (AP) \u2014 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s latest impressive scoring run with Real Madrid has brought up comparisons to Cristiano…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-463925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}