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Late in the previous campaign, footage of Kylian Mbappé departing Real Madrid's training facility Valdebebas with a grin on his face was enough to send parts of the club's media into a frenzy.
On May 7, the striker was photographed smiling in his vehicle on the very same day that his fellow players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni had become embroiled in a now-notorious altercation, which left the former requiring hospital treatment. It marked the lowest point of an exceptionally poor season by Madrid's standards, with Mbappé perceived as failing to take the situation seriously.
The Frenchman's smile, coupled with a poorly timed holiday while sidelined through injury and a second straight season without silverware since his arrival from Paris Saint-Germain, fueled an atmosphere in which an online petition calling for Mbappé's departure from Madrid attracted tens of millions of signatures.
Now, three months later, it is new head coach José Mourinho who is all smiles — though for far more encouraging reasons.
"He's incredible," the 63-year-old said of Mbappé. "He sometimes makes me laugh in training ... He's just too good."
The tension and hostility that gripped the closing weeks of last season now feels like a distant memory as Real Madrid have claimed back-to-back victories to open the 2026–27 campaign. Mbappé's stunning hat-trick in the 4–1 midweek triumph over Real Sociedad drew Mourinho's admiration, and it is evident the French international will be at the heart of this reinvigorated Madrid side's ambitions.
'We Have to Win'—Mbappé
First Hat-Trick of LALIGA season 26/27 🫡 pic.twitter.com/vHWlvvolJc
Speaking ahead of the new season, Mbappé was crystal clear about Real Madrid's objectives when addressing the club's official media: "We have to win. I am sure that this year we are going to win titles again. That's what we want, and that's what's going to happen."
Reclaiming La Liga from Barcelona — who are chasing a third consecutive title, something no side has achieved since Pep Guardiola's Barcelona — sits high on the agenda, but Mbappé's primary target remains European glory.
Now 27, it seems almost inconceivable that he has yet to lift the Champions League — a gap his transfer to the club most associated with European success was meant to fill. Meanwhile, the club he departed has gone on to claim back-to-back titles and enters this season as the favorite to match Madrid's record of three consecutive European crowns.
There is little question that on a personal level, Mbappé is primed to claim the ultimate prize. He finished as the tournament's top scorer last season despite Madrid's quarterfinal exit, netting 15 goals in 11 appearances — a single-season tally surpassed only by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Even amid all the turbulence of the past two campaigns, he has continued to produce extraordinary numbers (89 goals in 105 matches) and is the first player since the legendary Mario Kempes to claim the Pichichi Trophy — awarded to La Liga's top scorer — in each of his first two seasons in Spain.
At international level, the story is much the same. He became the first player ever to win two World Cup Golden Boot awards this July, surpassing Lionel Messi to become the tournament's all-time top scorer. Both the France squad this summer and the Real Madrid teams he has featured in have been far from perfect. One can only wonder what he might achieve within a more stable and well-balanced setup.
Madrid Have Questions to Answer in Search of European Glory
The real question is not whether Mbappé is capable enough to finally get his hands on the Champions League, but whether this current Madrid squad is.
Even posing that question about Real Madrid feels somewhat absurd. It is a well-worn football truth that you can never write off the 15-time champions in European competition, yet the past two seasons have chipped away at Madrid's air of inevitability.
In Mbappé's debut season at the club, Los Blancos were undone by the collective brilliance of Arsenal in the quarterfinals, before suffering the same fate against an impressive Bayern Munich side at the same stage back in April.
The trophy-free conclusion to 2025–26 spurred Florentino Pérez into action, and Madrid have bolstered their squad this summer with shrewd additions aimed at bringing experience, depth and match-winning quality to an already gifted group — all in the hope of returning the club to the heights of 2023–24, the last time they lifted the Champions League. Yet the one area Pérez has left unaddressed may prove to be the most critical.
Club icon Toni Kroos rode off into retirement following the Champions League final victory over Dortmund two years ago — after contributing an assist for the opening goal — and has yet to be replaced. Having been turned down by Rodri this summer, the club appear to have decided against pursuing another deep-lying midfield controller.
As it stands, the center of the pitch still appears to be the weak link in the Death Star — the zone where Madrid can be overrun in high-stakes matches against the likes of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. There are also genuine concerns about Mourinho's central defensive options and whether any of them are truly equipped to compete at the highest level.
Then there is Mourinho himself. The Special One, who built his reputation in European football, has not won the Champions League since 2010 and has not even reached the semifinal stage since 2014. The game has evolved enormously since he was sprinting along the touchline at Old Trafford after orchestrating one of the greatest upsets in the competition's history with Porto, or dodging sprinklers at Camp Nou.
Mourinho has sought to present himself as a more composed, warm-hearted figure in the early stages of his second spell at Madrid — a wiser, more measured Mourinho 2.0 — but the lingering concern remains that he will eventually, and perhaps inevitably, add to the club's dressing-room turbulence rather than resolve it.
This is also a concern when it comes to Mbappé.
PSG finally broke their Champions League curse in the very season their talisman departed, with previously overlooked players stepping up and fresh talents emerging as part of a more cohesive, fluid unit. A few years ago, who could have genuinely predicted that Ousmane Dembélé would claim the Ballon d'Or ahead of his French international teammate Mbappé?
When Luis Enrique's side successfully defended their European title a year later as Madrid struggled, the debate over whether Mbappé himself was part of the problem only intensified.
Over two seasons, Madrid have failed to find the right formula for building a team around their superstar in a way that satisfies both him and those around him.
Crack that puzzle this season, and they'll all have plenty to smile about.