Kylian Mbappe has scored 13 goals in 12 La Liga matches for Real Madrid this season, yet the France captain also sits top of a chart no striker wants to lead. The Mbappe big chances missed tally now stands at 16 — more than any other player in Spain, and level with the most across Europe’s top five leagues.
Mbappe big chances missed: the numbers behind the paradox
According to figures reported by Spanish newspaper Sport and tracked by StatMuse, Mbappe has squandered 16 big chances in La Liga — seven clear of the next player on the list, Real Sociedad’s Orri Óskarsson, who has nine. Sport puts Barcelona’s Karim Adeyemi third on eight, while Raphinha and Villarreal’s Ayoze Pérez have each missed seven.
Widen the lens and the picture barely changes. Across Europe’s top five leagues, only Everton striker Thierno Barry matches Mbappe’s 16. Opta defines a big chance as a situation that hands a player a particularly favourable opportunity to score — typically a one-on-one with the goalkeeper or a close-range effort with no significant defensive pressure.
The contrast with the scoring chart is what makes the numbers sting. Raphinha leads La Liga with 15 goals from just 11.2 expected goals — outperforming his xG by 3.8 — while Mbappe has scored his 13 from 14.6 expected goals, 1.6 below what the chances were worth. Across all competitions, Mbappe has 17 goals, bettered only by Raphinha.
Not a one-off: he has topped this list before
This is not a new habit. In 2024-25, the season he won the La Liga Golden Boot with 31 goals, Mbappe also topped the missed-chances list — 29 wasted big chances according to FotMob, ahead of Robert Lewandowski’s 23. Last season he did it again, missing 21 in La Liga, ahead of Ferran Torres on 20. The 16 he has already missed this season extend a trend that has followed him through his first two years in Madrid.
None of it has stopped him scoring. His double in last Sunday’s Clasico win at Barcelona underlined his value to Real Madrid, and he remains his side’s most reliable route to goal. But the misses help explain why Madrid trail Barcelona by three points after 12 rounds — the Catalans sit on 33 points to Madrid’s 30, with Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, who has 10 goals and eight assists, setting the pace.
The title race still runs through Barcelona
Mbappe is currently sidelined from France duty with a hamstring problem, having been ruled out of Thursday’s Nations League defeat to Italy, and Real Madrid will hope the international break costs him no more league time. When La Liga resumes, the scoring race — and the missed-chances chart — will both be worth watching.
For now, the paradox stands: the most prolific finisher in Spain is also its most wasteful. If Mbappe starts converting at Raphinha’s rate, the title race could look very different by Christmas. For the latest football tips, check our today’s predictions page.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0, Bryan Berlin) — collage by SportsBuddy
