Kylian Mbappe 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 Thursday (AEDT).
Mbappe 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 defence to allow an easy winner by Gorka Guruzeta in the 80th.
"Bad result," Mbappe posted on Instagram.
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Kylian Mbappe's post.
Kylian Mbappe's post. 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."
Mbappe 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."
Mbappe, who had a goal disallowed for offside in the 13th minute, had also missed a penalty in Madrid's 2-0 loss at Liverpool in the Champions League last week.
He has only one goal in the Champions League for his new club, which has lost three of its five games in the revamped competition.
"He's down on confidence," Craig Foster said on Stan Sport.
"He's half the player of last season."
Mbappe didn't take the penalty in a Spanish league match on Monday (AEDT), 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 lacklustre 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 Mbappe.
"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.
Alex Berenguer had put the hosts ahead in the 53th minute and Jude Bellingham equalised for Madrid in the 78th.
The defeat left Madrid four points behind Barcelona, who 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.