Kumbullah: “Mbappé and Vinícius are the toughest players I have faced in my entire career”

At 24 years old, Marash Kumbulla has already faced some of the best strikers of his generation. Since making his Serie A debut in 2019, Kumbulla has faced the likes of Paulo Dybala, Rafael Leão, Ciro Immobile, Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimović and held his own while playing for Hellas Verona, Roma and Sassuolo. However, nothing could have prepared him for his trip to the Santiago Bernabéu on September 21, 2024, when he paid a visit to Real Madrid.

Kumbulla left Italy for the first time in his career and joined newly promoted Espanyol on a season-long loan. Instead of gradually incorporating him into the team, Espanyol coach Manolo González decided to throw him in the deep end and start him in his first available match: a 1-0 loss to Espanyol. The Albanian defender kept his place in the starting eleven over the following weeks, keeping Julián Álvarez, Antoine Griezmann and Alexander Sørloth quiet in the 0-0 draw against Atlético Madrid, before playing the full 90 games in the 2-2 win. -1 against Rayo Vallecano. and 3-2 victory against Deportivo Alavés. However, in the next match Espanyol would concede four goals to Real Madrid, as many as they had conceded during their first four matches combined.

Espanyol initially proved to be a tenacious opponent for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, and even broke the deadlock after the break when Jofre Carreras put a cross between Thibaut Courtois’ legs for an own goal.

However, Real Madrid quickly equalized thanks to Dani Carvajal and, with a quarter of an hour remaining, the current champion of Spain and Europe took the lead: Vinícius Júnior trotted down the left wing before sending a trivela pass to Rodrygo, who made no mistake close range. Shortly after, Real Madrid doubled their lead when Kylian Mbappé slipped a perfectly timed pass to Vinícius, who scored the third goal with aplomb. The icing on the cake came in the 90th minute, when Mbappé stepped up to the penalty spot and coolly fired a penalty to seal the comeback 4-1 victory.

“Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior are the toughest players I have played against in my entire career,” Kumbulla said in an interview with RG. “When you play against them in real life, you understand why they are so good: they are on another level. It was incredible to play at the Santiago Bernabéu, it is the best stadium I have played in.”

After a shaky start to the 2024/25 campaign, Real Madrid are slowly returning to their best form, winning six of their last seven games and topping the table.

Much of that is due to two of their superstars, Vinicius and Mbappé.

Instead of wallowing in the disappointment of missing out on the 2024 Ballon d’Or to Manchester City’s Rodri, Vinícius has continued to show why he is one of the best footballers on the planet. The Brazilian forward scored a goal and an assist at Atalanta on December 10 before adding a goal and an assist in Real’s 3-0 win against Pachuca in the Intercontinental Cup. As for Mbappé, he has scored in four of his last five games.

Carlo Ancelotti will rely on both attackers as he looks to continue Real’s impressive run with a win at Club Deportiva Minera in the Copa del Rey on Monday.