couldn’t do any worse’ – Mbappe on his Real form

Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe says a “mentality issue” prevented him from finding his best form earlier this season.

The France captain, 26, joined Real on a free transfer last June after leaving Paris St-Germain.

But he struggled in the early months following his move, at one point scoring just three times in 11 appearances.

That run included penalty misses against Liverpool in the Champions League and Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, with Madrid losing both matches.

Mbappe says he felt at “rock bottom” after those misses but a shift in his mindset has led to four goals in his past three appearances.

“I believe it was a mentality issue and that was a point I realised that I had to work harder,” said Mbappe.

“I was thinking too much about how to do things. Whether to go into space, whether to go to Vini’s [Vinicius Jr’s] area of the pitch, to Rodrygo’s area. When you overthink, you don’t focus on your game.

“I was fine physically and with the group but I knew I had to do more, that was the time to change the situation.

“I couldn’t do any worse, so when you hit rock bottom you can only go up.”

Since the defeat by Bilbao on 4 December, Mbappe has scored eight goals in 10 appearances in all competitions.

Meanwhile, Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has dismissed speculation that he has decided to leave the club at the end of the season.

“I will never decide to leave Real Madrid,” said the Italian.

“This day will come, but it won’t be me the one who decides. It could be tomorrow or in five years. The plan is to be here with Florentino [Perez] for another four years and say goodbye.”

Real, who are 20th in the 36-team Champions League table, take on Red Bull Salzburg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday (20:00 GMT).