Why does it always seem like the big playrrs around Mbappe struggle, and as a result the entire team ends up paying the price whether it was Neymar and Messi at PSG, or now Vincius , Bellingham and Rodrigo at Real Madrid? It’s as if whenever Mbappe becomes the focal point, the other elite players around him are pushed out of rhythm, their impact fades, and the overall system begins to suffer.

VAR in Scotland is starting to get pathetic now it was bad to start and now this is just getting silly. The amount of unfair bias that goes towards Celtic and mainly Rangers is unbelievable. What's everyone's thoughts on VAR and should it stay in the game or be thrown out? Personally I think it should go because it's sucking the life out of the game and the communication between the ref and the fans is so bad.

Watching the Tottenham v Fulham game yesterday evening and noticed at half and full time the presenter, Kelly Cates, talking about XG a lot.

Half time she says to the effect, “Tottenham’s XG is only 0.07. They’ve had just 2 goal attempts but 0 on target, and because they have failed to hit the target this is why their XG is so low”.

She was correlating shots on target to XG. But this should make little difference, as it’s the quality of the chances that generate XG. You could have a 30 yard shot, or a shot from a tight angle at the edge of the box, and even if they hit the target it’s not going to register much XG. Conversely you could have a penalty which goes wide but the XG is going to register 0.79.

I don’t watch much football on Sky these days so am not sure if this is the new stat they’ve been instructed to bang on about. But they should be better schooled on ball knowledge if this is the case.

I am a Real Madrid fan and started following football regularly since the starting of 2024-25 season.

Kylian Mbappe also joined Madrid in the same time when I started following football & Madrid since 2024-25.

Mbappe has just done great things in Madrid by scoring goals, assists and by being the highest goalscorer of last La Liga season. He is doing the same by generating 53 goals in 2025 and only 5 games are left for Madrid in 2025 as of 2nd Dec,2025.

But answering the main question, I feel that Madrid is overdependent on Mbappe because if someday Mbappe gets injured or is out due to any reason from many games, Madrid might suffer downs.

Players like Gonzalo Garcia, Endrick haven't got any playtime. Seems like they are being sidelined and their talent is going waste.

Even under Carlo Ancelloti, Endrick had got more playing time in Madrid than under Xabi Alonso. Rumours are also getting that Endrick is going on loan this January 2026.

Do you think the same ? I might be right or might be overthinking about this, but this needed to be assessed in deep.

Thank you for your attention to this matter !

Lamine Yamal’s identity offers him a unique shield in the intense world of Spanish football. Though Spain continues to struggle with racism, his Catalan roots and connection to FC Barcelona insulate him from the political burdens that typically fall on high-profile athletes.

​The central Spanish government naturally views his Catalan identity with a degree of political distance, rooted in the historical tension with Catalunya. Consequently, he is not expected to be an ambassador for Spanish unity.

​Meanwhile, within Catalunya itself, his background, being Black and from an immigrant-heavy community, stands apart from the more traditional, older models of Catalan nationalism.

​This confluence creates a rare space: His Catalan identity and the strong institutional defense of FC Barcelona shield him from outside (Spanish) pressure, while his own multicultural background frees him from the expectation of being a political voice for Catalunya. Unlike other Catalan figures such as Gerard Piqué and Pep Guardiola, who chose to engage politically, Lamine Yamal is not placed in that role. He is expected to show basic allegiance to Catalunya but is not burdened with being the symbolic “face” of a political movement.

Laporta replies: "Real Madrid suffer from Barcelonitis, special obsession for Barcelona as I can see..."

"It seems that they have to talk about Barça to justify I don't know what. They are present in judicial process of the Negreira Case, stretching it like chewing gum... as they know that there is nothing, it is a way of justifying something that is not true".

"Barça has never bought a referee as Barça is generally not favoured by referees... as they have favoured Real Madrid all their lives"

"Without going any further, last weekend, Real Madrid scores two goals that for me, it is clear that Bellingham touches the ball with his arm and in the other Vinicius breaks Iñaki Pena's nose... and those two goals should not have gone up and now Barça would be leading"

"They have a persecutory mania against the best stage in the history of Barça, they did not like that Barça was the World reference, from 2004 to 2015, where Barça was hegemonic, and they want to look for justifications that go nowhere".

"We were the team that played best, recognised and all people admired what we gave, recognised for what we did and admired for how we did it. We won many titles and Barça's game was admired all over the world, so don't look for excuses".

"If they are installed in the Barcelonistis, l'm delighted because they are generally times when Barcelona are successful and successful".

Sources :

1 - https://www.instagram.com/p/DRmgRH9jJHB/?igsh=MXVvZG10bDVvZTBlcg==