What do you get the club that has everything? Trophies provide a buzz, as does dominance over another of the so-called titans of European soccer, but nothing gets the juices flowing more than a brand-new superstar. Soccer is a team sport, but few things can tilt the favor in the direction of one team more than a world-beating attacker. Real Madrid already had one such superstar in Vinícius Junior, but Wednesday's second leg against Manchester City demonstrated why one is never enough for this club and its limitless ambition. These must-win games, in the competition Real Madrid has won more than anyone else, are why the club spent multiple summers courting and, eventually, landing Kylian Mbappé.
If it has felt like Mbappé hasn't torn the world asunder in his first season in the Spanish capital, it's because in some ways he hasn't. Sure, he has 17 league goals—second only to Robert Lewandowski's 20—and his advanced statistics point to him being much the same player he was at Paris Saint-Germain; he's a killer both in the buildup (his 7.47 progressive pass receptions per match, essentially a tally of how often he's in open space for his playmakers, rank highest on the team) and into the area (2.77 carries into the penalty box per game, second on Madrid behind Vinícius).
That's in La Liga, though, and it really is all about the Champions League in Madrid. Entering Wednesday's match, Mbappé only had four goals in the competition, including one wonky finish in the first leg. The Frenchman needed a game like Wednesday's to officially announce himself in the famous all-white kit, and by goodness, he delivered, notching his first hat trick at Madrid's vaunted stadium, and his first in the Champions League for his new club, in a match with survival at stake.
It started extremely early. Knowing Manchester City would have to attack in order to try to overturn the 3-2 deficit from the first leg, Mbappé hung around the halfway line in hopes of catching a counter-attack opportunity. That opportunity came in the fourth minute. A gorgeous long ball from defender Raúl Asencio perfectly threaded the needle between Rúben Dias and John Stones in City's backline, giving Mbappé enough space to shoulder off Dias and then hit a beautiful volley lob before Stones could get there. Unlike in the first leg, he hit it clean, and Ederson had no shot at saving it.
I'll be honest: At 4-2, in the Bernabéu, I thought the game was over. Manchester City has been playing too poorly this season to be trusted to dig out of that hole, and even though I have to admit that my Barcelona fandom—fun fact: I am more of a Barça Boy than a Pool Boy, despite what my blog frequency might have you believe!—makes me despise Madrid, a not-so-small part of me wanted to see the tournament's final boss pile on the pain and really seal City's catastrophic season.
Mbappé obliged. After a gorgeously fluid possession moved the ball from deep in Madrid's half into the box, Vinícius cut a pass across the top of the area which eventually landed at Mbappé's feet. While the Frenchman could have attempted an early shot from a tight angle, he instead deployed some nifty footwork and a patient stop to open up an even easier shot (making Josko Gvardiol eat dirt in the process), and slammed the ball into the back of the net.
And Mbappé wasn't yet done. It may not have been the flashiest of his three goals on the day, but his 61st-minute strike might have been the smartest one. Receiving the ball on the right side of the box, he cut back onto his left foot and then looked like he was going to try to rocket a curler into the far post. Instead, though, he shot a rug-burner in that same direction, seemingly freezing Ederson for just long enough to let the ball zoom past him.
Performances like Wednesday's are why the years-long, teasing, often aggravating, sometimes humiliating courtship process Madrid subjected itself to in order to get Mbappé was worth it. In a game Madrid had to not lose, he tipped the scales decisively. Real will need Mbappé to ride this high for the remainder of the Champions League, because the road doesn't get any easier: Next, in the proper round of 16, Madrid will face either Bayer Leverkusen or Atlético Madrid, two teams with league-winning aspirations this season and with the talent to make that a continental double. However, Mbappé is peaking at the right time: His hat trick on Wednesday made it an incredible 14 goals in as many games across all competitions since the calendar turned to 2025. If it was hard to characterize Mbappé's debut season in Spain as actively bad—17 league goals is nothing to scoff at—it's impossible now. You could knock his playmaking somewhat; he's not creating as many chances as he did at PSG, but that speaks more to the quality of Madrid's other creators than to any deficiencies in his game.
After a relatively slow start by his otherworldly standards, this is the Mbappé that Madrid paid for: one who scores an avalanche of goals and single-handedly wins games, and does so specifically in the knockout rounds of the club's favorite competition. As Mbappé found out on Wednesday, it feels great to be on the winning side in Madrid, and triply so when a tie-winning hat trick comes from your own two feet.
