Nightmare before Halloween. The sound of claws scraping against the wall, that familiar little tune in the background. Here he comes. He’s here. The usual suspect. Kylian Mbappé, back to bruise Barcelona. It’s a recurring tale. This is where he thrives. Barça is now the second-favorite victim of his career: 14 goals in 11 meetings (only Montpellier ranks higher, with 15, but in 15 games and at a worse scoring rate). The results have not always gone his way, but the goals almost always have. And yesterday, it happened again. A brace and another raid on Camp Nou, where the same scene unfolded once more: Mbappé roaring in celebration. The never-ending torment.

It was bizarre, even. Exactly one week after scoring one of the most spectacular goals of his career, that Ronaldo Nazário-esque burst against Sevilla, he produced one of his worst. Or at least one of his least spectacular. Gerard Martín cleared a ball... only for it to ricochet off him and into the net. Mbappé, in fact, threw his hands up to his face, instinctively shielding himself from what looked less like a soccer ball and more like a rock hurtling his way. But the fluke ended in glory. As if it had been written in the script. He had to score, and he did, before striking again down the stretch by turning in Eduardo Camavinga’s gift. A delicate touch, into the cage. Brace. C’est fini.

Mbappé haunts Barça yet again to reach Real century

“Passion,” he wrote on social media after the final whistle. Shortly after hurting Barcelona once again. In total, there have been 11 meetings: four with Paris Saint-Germain and seven with Real Madrid. Even while in Paris, he scored six goals against Barça. Among them, the unforgettable hat trick at Camp Nou in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. Since joining Madrid, he has scored once in the Spanish Super Cup, once in a Copa del Rey final and six times in LaLiga against Barcelona. Before yesterday’s goals, there was a hat trick at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys and another at the Bernabéu. The overall record is not favorable: of the seven Clásicos he has played, he has won only two. But he scores. That’s the point.

The numbers show that his love affair with goals reaches another level when Barcelona are on the other side, his second-favorite victim: 1.27 goals per game. A guarantee, based on the evidence. Only Montpellier have conceded more to him, ahead of the 13 he has scored against both Monaco and Lyon and the 12 against Marseille, Dijon and Metz. His second-favorite opponent in Spain is Real Sociedad (10), followed by Sevilla and Villarreal (five apiece). One curious wrinkle in the numbers is that he has scored more goals against Real Madrid (three) than Atlético Madrid (two). Derby matches remain one of the few unfinished chapters of his career.

One in which he has already checked off another milestone: reaching 100 goals in a Real Madrid shirt. He got there in just 116 appearances, averaging 0.86 goals per game. Looking at minutes played, often the more telling metric, he scores once every 95 minutes for Madrid. By hitting the century mark, he has matched Fernando Morientes and now has Sergio Ramos (101), Iván Zamorano (101), Luis Molowny (104), Ronaldo Nazário (104), and Gareth Bale (106) in his sights. He currently sits 23rd on the club’s all-time scoring list. And he has gotten there in little more than two seasons.

And he is climbing in the race for the Pichichi Trophy as well. For now, Raphinha sits atop the standings with 13 goals, the product of a blistering start in which 12 came during the first seven matchdays. Extraordinary. Had he maintained that pace, he would be on track for 65 league goals. That was never realistic. But Mbappé is not far behind: he has 11 LaLiga goals. His scoring has been spread out more evenly, having found the net in nine of the team’s 13 matches this season, drawing blanks only against Espanyol, Atlético and Villarreal. If he maintains his current rate, he projects to finish with 46 league goals. Last season’s Pichichi was won with 25 goals; the year before, it took 31.

Ballon d’Or?

That is the question now. The one hanging over tonight. His case rests on three main arguments. The first is that this summer he became the all-time leading scorer in men’s World Cup history. Thanks to the 10 goals he scored at the tournament’s 2026 edition, he reached 22 for his career, surpassing Lionel Messi’s total of 21. The second argument is that he finished as the Champions League’s top scorer, with 13 goals. That statistic comes with both strengths and caveats. When it came to delivering on the biggest nights, he scored in both matches against Bayern Munich, even if it was not enough to carry his team into the semifinals. At the same time, seven of those 13 goals came against Kairat Almaty (three) and Olympiacos (four), inflated totals that padded his numbers.

And the third argument is that he also claimed the LaLiga scoring title with 25 goals. How were they distributed? He scored in 10 of the first 11 matchdays, including both the Madrid derby and El Clásico. It was a whirlwind start, one with very few precedents. Yet his production tailed off when spring arrived. Of those 25 goals, only seven came in the second half of the season. And after matchday 23, he scored just twice. The evidence is all on the table. Mbappé has not hidden from the discussion for a second. Quite the opposite. He has actively campaigned for it: “I’ve made a lot of history in the most important competition in sports. It’s a good year to win it.”

The final chapter of that story will be written tonight in London. A day after reaching a century of goals for Real Madrid. A day after scoring his 14th goal of the season and moving to an average of 1.08 goals per game. And a day after once again tormenting Barcelona.

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