Mbappé enduring ‘difficult moment’ as he misses another penalty kick and Madrid loses to Athletic

MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé admitted he is going through a difficult moment as he missed another penalty kick and Real Madrid lost ground to Barcelona in the Spanish league after a 2-1 loss at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.

Mbappé had his penalty saved by Athletic goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala in the 68th minute, and later Federico Valverde gifted a late goal by losing possession on defense to allow an easy winner by Gorka Guruzeta in the 80th.

“Bad result,” Mbappé posted on Instagram. “A big mistake in a match where every detail counts. I take full responsibility for it. A difficult moment but it’s the best time to change this situation and show who I am.”

Mbappé sent the penalty shot to his right and Agirrezabala dived that way to make the stop.

“We knew that he is a good penalty taker,” Agirrezabala said. “He missed the last one and I believed that he was going to choose the same side and luckily that’s what happened.”

Mbappé, who had a goal disallowed for offside in the 13th, had also missed a penalty in Madrid’s 2-0 loss at Liverpool in the Champions League last week. He didn’t take the one for the club in a Spanish league match on Sunday, but he scored in the 2-0 win over Getafe to ease some of the pressure on him and the club.

But it was another lackluster outing for the France star, who continues to struggle in his first season since finally joining the Spanish powerhouse.

“I won’t evaluate the performance of a player because of a missed penalty. Obviously he is sad and disappointed, but you have to move on,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said about Mbappé. “He is not at his best level, but you have to give him time to adapt. You have to give him time to be able to do better.”

Ancelotti also downplayed the bad play by Valverde, saying that mistakes can happen to anyone.

Valverde had control of the ball but gave it away while trying to get past a couple of Athletic players instead of passing it to a teammate, leaving Guruzeta with an easy run into the area for his goal.

Álex Berenguer had put the hosts ahead in the 53td and Jude Bellingham equalized for Madrid in the 78th.

The defeat left Madrid four points behind Barcelona, which on Tuesday ended a three-match winless streak in the league with a 5-1 rout at Mallorca. Madrid, which has a game in hand, had won three consecutive league games since a 4-0 loss at home in the “clasico” against Barcelona.

Madrid has lost five of its last 11 matches in all competitions.

Athletic moved to fourth place with the victory, its fourth consecutive across all competitions.

Both matches on Tuesday and Wednesday were moved forward in the schedule because the clubs will be playing in the Spanish Super Cup in January.

Copa del Rey

In the Copa del Rey, first-division clubs Rayo Vallecano, Valencia and Real Betis all advanced over lower-division teams in the second round, but Villarreal lost 1-0 to fourth-division club Pontevedra and Girona fell on penalties to fourth-tier team Logrones.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer