Mbappé urges Real Madrid to earn trophies rather than blame derby officials

Kylian Mbappé has acknowledged that refereeing errors occurred in the Madrid derby while deliberately stopping short of a public complaint, telling Diario AS that his focus — and Real Madrid’s — must now turn to what happens on the pitch for the rest of the season.

The France forward made the comments during an event connected to a new partnership with Swiss sportswear brand On, using the occasion to reflect on a derby result he described as very difficult to take. Real Madrid wanted to win, he said, and knew what kind of game awaited them, but the squad gave everything and must now move forward with so much of the season still to play.

Mbappé keeps his thoughts on the referee private

Pressed on the officiating controversy that surrounded the fixture, Mbappé was careful not to let his answer become a grievance. He said he has never been a player who talks much about referees and was not about to start now. He has his own thoughts on what happened, he added, but he is keeping them to himself — the referee is human and makes mistakes, and there were mistakes, but he did not want to get into that.

The measured tone stands in contrast to the wider noise generated around the fixture. Mbappé offered no specifics on individual incidents and made no reference to any VAR decisions, keeping his account deliberately brief.

A challenge to the squad, not the officials

Rather than dwell on the result, Mbappé used the bulk of his comments to set a standard for the campaign ahead. Other people can talk, he said, but the players have to do more, work harder, and bring the excitement and the trophies back to Real Madrid.

It is a framing consistent with how Mbappé has generally presented himself since joining the club: preferring to answer questions through performances rather than press conferences. With a long season still ahead, his message was less a post-mortem on the derby and more a public statement of intent about what he expects from himself and his teammates going forward.