Vinícius Júnior vs Kylian Mbappé
Opponents twice in 2022 and Real Madrid team-mates since the summer of 2024: two right-footed forwards used to the same left side, with 99 games together by October 2026 and two trophies, both won in 2024.
By the Oddsivio teamLast reviewed Stats updated
Last season · club and country together · official matches
Who does what?
Last season, Kylian Mbappé had the stronger recorded output: ahead on goals, chances created and pass completion, behind on nothing. They were level on assists.
What separates them
3 of 4 pass both our tests: a big enough gap, and sure enough to hold.
- Vinícius Jr
- Mbappé
- Typical forwards
- Goals per 90Mbappé led0.5026 goals1.1057 goals
About 2.2 times as many goals: about 18 more over 30 full matches.
Held up next season: about 9 in 10
- Chances created per 90Mbappé led2.0106 chances2.5128 chances
About 13 more chances created over 30 full matches for Mbappé than Vinícius Jr.
Held up next season: about 7 in 10
- Assists per 90Level0.2513 assists0.2513 assists
Too small a gap against typical forwards to name a leader.
- Pass completion share of passes completedMbappé led82%50%100%86%
Pass completion depends a lot on role and team.
Held up next season: about 9 in 10
Per 90 = per 90 minutes played, so different minutes compare fairly.
Does it hold up?
Without penalties
Kylian Mbappé still led (0.81 vs 0.40 per 90; 42 goals to 21).
Vinícius Jr 5 of 26 goals were penaltiesMbappé 15 of 57 goals were penalties
How they play · volume, not a lead
Kylian Mbappé shot far more (4.1 vs 2.7 per 90); Vinícius Júnior won far more duels (5.8 vs 3.8 per 90) last season.
Why this comparison
When Mbappé joined Real Madrid as a free agent in July 2024, Vinícius had just scored in a second Champions League final, and later that year he was runner-up for the Ballon d'Or and was named FIFA's best men's player. Mbappé arrived as France's captain and Paris Saint-Germain's record scorer. Each had been his team's main forward, and in their two meetings in 2022 each had lined up on the left. In the two seasons since, Mbappé has scored 44 and 42 goals for the club and Vinícius 22 and 22, yet Real Madrid have finished second in La Liga twice, gone out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals twice and changed coach three times.
So the argument is as much about the pairing as about the players. José Mourinho, their fourth coach in that time, said on 21 August 2026, the day before his first league game back, that it was harder to find the perfect role for Vinícius, Mbappé and Jude Bellingham all at once than for any one of them, but that he had confidence in the three playing together and did not think their positions were incompatible. Both forwards are on the 30-man list for the 2026 Ballon d'Or, which was due to be awarded in London on 26 October.
Every number · last season
| Vinícius JrVinícius Júnior | Stat | MbappéKylian Mbappé |
|---|---|---|
4,690 | Minutes | 4,674 |
58 | Matches | 56 |
79.31Star · 40 club games · as of 2026-10-12 | Current squad importance | 77.42Star · 40 club games · as of 2026-10-12 |
0.5026 in total | goals per 90 | 1.1057 in total |
0.2513 in total | assists per 90 | 0.2513 in total |
2.0106 in total | chances created per 90 | 2.5128 in total |
2.7142 in total | shots per 90 | 4.1215 in total |
5.9306 in total | take-ons tried per 90 | 4.9257 in total |
0.738 in total | tackles per 90 | 0.29 in total |
0.14 in total | interceptions per 90 | 0.15 in total |
5.8303 in total | duels won per 90 | 3.8199 in total |
82% | pass completion | 86% |
Goals and assists are counted from match events; the other counts come from the provider's detailed match stats. Squad importance describes the current club role over its recent club-game window; it is independent of the comparison window.
Have they played each other?
As opponents they have met twice in competitive football, in the Champions League round of 16 in 2022, each as the left-sided forward of his team's front three. Mbappé scored the only goal of the first leg for Paris Saint-Germain, in the 94th minute, and the opening goal of the second; Vinícius set up the first goal of Karim Benzema's hat-trick, and Real Madrid went through 3–2 on aggregate. The clubs met four more times while Mbappé was in Paris: twice in early 2018, before Vinícius had joined Real Madrid, and twice in 2019, when only one of the two played each time. They also met in a friendly, Brazil 1–2 France in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on 26 March 2026, when Mbappé scored; friendlies are not in the list below, and France and Brazil did not meet at the 2026 World Cup. As team-mates, up to 10 October 2026 both had played in 99 of Real Madrid's 133 competitive games since Mbappé's debut, and both had started 78. Real won 65 of the 99, drew 10 and lost 24, a count that takes the Champions League game at Atlético Madrid in March 2025 as the 1–0 defeat it was after extra time, although Real went through on penalties. Up to that date they had played five finals together, winning the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 2024 and losing three to Barcelona, and six Clásicos, of which Real had won one. We rebuilt the record from ESPN and UEFA match data and it matches the list below game for game; new games are added the day after they are played. Real Madrid were due to visit Barcelona on 25 October 2026. Mbappé hurt a knee playing for France on 25 September 2026 and started again on 10 October.
Looking up their matches…
What the numbers don't show
The 2025–26 figures on the card above count club and country, so they include the 2026 World Cup, where Mbappé scored ten goals in eight games and won the Golden Boot and Vinícius scored four in five. They also include penalties, and those are not shared evenly: Xabi Alonso said in November 2025 that Mbappé was the first taker, and by the club's figures Mbappé scored 12 of 13 for Real Madrid that season and Vinícius five of seven. The check under the card takes penalties out. What it cannot take out is who is asked to take them.
Their numbers also feed each other. On our match records, up to 10 October 2026 Vinícius had set up 13 of Mbappé's goals for Real Madrid and Mbappé four of Vinícius's. ESPN's commentary names Vinícius on 12 of the 13; the other, in the January 2025 Spanish Super Cup final, is credited to him in ESPN's box score, though its match report calls the goal a solo run. Part of the goals row is therefore the two of them working together, and the assists row leans one way partly because one of them is usually the finisher.
Role and coach move the figures as well. In ESPN's line-ups for the 78 games both started, Vinícius was on the left with Mbappé as the lone centre-forward in 50, and the two were a front pair in 24, a shape Álvaro Arbeloa used in eight of the 13 games they started for him. In 2025–26, on Transfermarkt's match logs, Vinícius scored six goals in 27 games under Alonso and 16 in 26 under Arbeloa, while Mbappé scored 29 in 25 and then 13 in 19. No view above separates those spells.
Estimated value
Kylian Mbappé's Oddsivio estimated value is higher: €183m (#4 of 9,335 players valued) to Vinícius Júnior's €104m (#18 of 9,335 players valued). Vinícius Jr's estimate dipped 14% since season start; Mbappé's estimate held steady since season start.Oddsivio estimated value — a model estimate from recent performance data, not betting advice.
Vinícius Júnior
Oddsivio estimated value
€104m
−14% since season start
#18 of 9,335 players valued#4 of 506 in La Liga
Kylian Mbappé
Oddsivio estimated value
€183m
+1% since season start
#4 of 9,335 players valued#2 of 506 in La Liga
Questions fans ask
Can Vinícius and Mbappé play together?
They have, 99 times up to 10 October 2026, and Real Madrid won 65 of those games; both scored in 15 of them, and Real won all 15. The doubt is about the fit. Both are right-footed forwards used to the left, and Opta Analyst found in March 2025 that 42.4% of the chances Real had created in La Liga that season came down the left, the highest share in the league. Carlo Ancelotti said in November 2024 that neither had a fixed position and that they could swap, and at Leganés that month he started Mbappé wide and Vinícius inside. It stayed a rare experiment: in ESPN's line-ups for the games both started up to 10 October 2026, Mbappé is almost always the central forward or one of a front two. What the pairing had not brought by October 2026 was a league title, a Champions League or a domestic cup. Real won the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 2024 and nothing in 2025–26, and lost three finals to Barcelona.
Who is better, Vinícius Jr or Mbappé?
The writing doesn't pick one: the verdict card is worked out from the games in whichever view you select. Each leads on different things. Mbappé's case is goals: La Liga's top scorer in each of his first two seasons in Spain, with 31 and 25, the European Golden Shoe for 2024–25, the Champions League's top scorer in 2025–26 with 15, and the Golden Boot at the 2026 World Cup. Vinícius's is finals and individual recognition: he scored in the Champions League finals of 2022 and 2024, both won, was the competition's player of the season in 2023–24, was runner-up to Rodri for the 2024 Ballon d'Or by 41 points, and won The Best that year. Up to the 2025 award Mbappé's best Ballon d'Or place was third, in 2023. He has a World Cup, from 2018, and seven league titles in France; Vinícius has two Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles. Arbeloa, their coach for the second half of 2025–26, said in May 2026 that they were two of the five most game-changing players in the world.
Do Mbappé and Vinícius get along?
By their own account, yes. Mbappé told La Sexta in April 2025 that he had come to Real Madrid with the idea of playing with Vinícius and could not imagine the club without him. In an interview with Jorge Valdano released in October 2025 he said their relationship was very good, and much better that year because they had got to know each other, and that two famous players in one team sell a lot of newspapers. In January 2026, after Vinícius was whistled at the Bernabéu, Mbappé said the team had to protect him better. The reports of trouble came in May 2026, and most were about Mbappé and the rest of the club. Sports Illustrated summarised The Athletic on a training-ground argument with a member of staff, L'Équipe on distance between him and most of the squad, and Marca, whose piece also said that his relationship with Vinícius was good. Outlets relaying L'Équipe then said that several executives wanted to sell one of the two and that the president, Florentino Pérez, wanted to keep both. Those accounts rest on unnamed sources, and Arbeloa said at the time that a lot of lies were being told. Later that month Vinícius told the Brazilian channel CazéTV that Mbappé is a good guy, that they do things together as friends away from the pitch when they can, and that Mbappé had always defended him in interviews.
Who takes penalties for Real Madrid, Mbappé or Vinícius?
Mbappé has been first choice since at least autumn 2025. Alonso said so on 1 November 2025, after a game against Valencia in which Mbappé scored one penalty and handed a second to Vinícius, whose shot was saved; from then to 10 October 2026 Mbappé took all eight penalties Real were given while he was on the pitch. By the club's figures, from August 2024 to 10 October 2026 Mbappé took 25 penalties for Real Madrid and scored 20, and Vinícius took 13 and scored nine, shoot-outs not counted. In 2024–25 they shared the job, Mbappé scoring seven of ten and Vinícius four of six. In 2025–26 it was 12 of 13 and five of seven, and five of Vinícius's seven came when Mbappé was not on the pitch. In the first nine games of 2026–27 Mbappé took both of Real's penalties, scoring one.
Who is faster, Vinícius or Mbappé?
On UEFA's tracking, Mbappé had the higher top speed in both completed Champions League seasons they have played together: 36.4 km/h to Vinícius's 35.5 in 2024–25, and 36.2 to 35.1 in 2025–26. Mbappé's 36.4 was the third-highest reading in the competition that season. Top speed is one sprint in one match, and distance is a different measure: in 2024–25, in almost the same number of minutes, UEFA had Vinícius covering 118.9 km to Mbappé's 109.9.
How does Vinícius do without Mbappé, and Mbappé without Vinícius?
Up to 10 October 2026 one of them had played without the other in 34 of Real Madrid's 133 competitive games since August 2024, on our count from ESPN's match data. Vinícius played 21 without Mbappé: Real won 14, drew three and lost four, and he scored six goals. Mbappé played 13 without Vinícius: Real won 11 and lost two, and he scored 14. With both, Real won 65 of 99. The comparison is rough, because the games are not alike: they include cup ties against lower-division teams, and most of Mbappé's absences were through injury or illness and came in runs. The longest was in February and March 2026, when he missed five games with a knee sprain and Real won four; in the last three Arbeloa paired Vinícius with Brahim Díaz in a 4-4-2, and Real won all three.