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• Benzema: Mbappe must adapt to Madrid role and forget 'best in world' Vinicius

  Kylian Mbappe must learn to play as a central striker at Real Madrid because he cannot displace Vinicius Junior on the left wing.

  Those were the words of Los Blancos' second-highest scorer of all time, Karim Benzema. 

  Mbappe has scored eight goals in 14 appearances in all competitions for Madrid since his move from Paris Saint-Germain, but has failed to score in his last five games. 

  The 26-year-old has been deployed in a more central role since under Carlo Ancelotti, as opposed to the wide role where he enjoyed success with the Parisiens. 

  "The problem, in my opinion, is that [Mbappe] is not a central striker, even with the national team, every time he plays as a number nine he doesn't feel right, because that's not his position," Benzema said on Spanish television show El Chiringuito.

  "On the left, he's got a guy who's at the same level as him, Vinicius, so there is a problem.

  "You can't play Vinicius as a number nine or on the right, because when he plays on the left he makes the difference in every game.

  "Mbappe isn't a real number nine. People ask a lot of him and he's under a lot of pressure, this isn't Paris Saint-Germain."

  The France captain has underperformed his expected goals (xG) figure in LaLiga by 1.75 this term, recording a shot conversion rate of just 18.18% from his 33 total attempts.

  He has also missed seven big chances, with only Real Betis duo Abde Ezzalzouli and Vitor Roque (both eight) and Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski (11) wasting more in LaLiga. 

  In Madrid's last game, a 4-0 Clasico defeat, Mbappe recorded just 27 touches. Only Aurelien Tchouameni (24) registered fewer among those who started the encounter.

  Benzema also endured a difficult start to life in the Spanish capital, netting just nine goals in his 33 appearances in all competitions in his debut season after his move from Lyon.

  He would, however, go on to become one of Madrid's best ever players, scoring 354 times in 648 outings, a total that puts him behind only Cristiano Ronaldo (450) in the club's history. 

  Benzema won 25 major honours during his time at the club, also scooping the Ballon d'Or in 2022, and had some advice for his compatriot moving forward. 

  "Don't give up, because I don't think he's going to push Vinicius to move. He's the best player in the world at the moment," Benzema added. 

  "Mbappe needs to get it into his head that today he's a number nine, and forget about the left flank for a while."

  Mbappe will be back in action for Madrid on Tuesday when they face Milan in the Champions League. 

• Luis Enrique in awe of Simeone energy ahead of reunion

  Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique was full of praise for his former rival Diego Simeone as he prepares to go head-to-head with the Atletico Madrid boss in the Champions League.

  PSG and Atletico, who reached the semi-finals and the quarter-finals respectively last season, will face off on Wednesday having both won just one of their three league-phase games.

  A home victory would boost PSG, currently 19th with four points, while Atletico, languishing in 27th on three, are aiming to recover from back-to-back losses.

  PSG have never faced Atletico in the Champions League before but Luis Enrique's Barcelona defeated Simeone's Atletico side nine times in their 14 meetings between 2014 and 2017, drawing twice and losing three times.

  Luis Enrique led Barca to a Champions League and LaLiga double in 2014-15 followed by another league title the following year.

  "We've played against each other as players and then as managers. I admire Simeone, when a coach can stay for so many years at a top club it means he is great because that is such a difficult thing to do," Luis Enrique told reporters on Tuesday.

  Simeone has managed Atletico for 13 years, guiding them to two LaLiga titles and two Europa League crowns, though the Madrid side had considered hiring Luis Enrique prior to Simeone's arrival.

  "I had given my word to another club. If I had gone to Atleti, I would not have stayed half as long as Simeone because I don't have the energy as him," added Luis Enrique.

  "They are lucky to have found Simeone as a coach. You need a lot of energy, to be able to convince all your players over the long-term."

  PSG, having lost Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid in the close season, have just two goals in their three Champions League games, beating Girona 1-0 but drawing 1-1 with PSV and losing 2-0 at Arsenal.

  "I have no doubt we can improve in defence and attack, whether it is with the defender duos of Marquinhos and Willian Pacho, or Milan Skriniar and Lucas Beraldo, or in the midfield," Luis Enrique said.

  "I understand you want to discuss individual players, but we analyse things from a broader perspective.

  "What interests me is to always generate goalscoring opportunities and to arrive in the penalty area because you have managed to be stronger than your opponent.

  "That is my objective as a coach: to always generate opportunities."

  Close-season signing Matvey Safonov, who kept a clean sheet in their opening win against Girona, might replace number one goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, whose mistakes proved costly at Arsenal and against PSV.

  "You will find out tomorrow. After a good cup of cappuccino, I will decide who the goalkeeper is," Luis Enrique said. 

• Silva grateful Fulham's dominance was rewarded with late win

  Marco Silva believes Fulham claimed a "deserved win" against Brentford, though admits they should have secured the three points much earlier in their 2-1 victory.

  It looked like Vitaly Janelt's 24th-minute strike against the run of play was going to wrap up all three points for Brentford, but Harry Wilson proved the Cottagers' hero off the bench, scoring twice in stoppage time to snatch the three points.

  Fulham had dominated from the first whistle and had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, though they struggled to find a way past their opponents' staunch defence until the 92nd minute.

  Wilson became just the sixth player to score an equalising and match-winning goal from the 90th minute onwards in the Premier League, while his second goal was Fulham's latest-ever Premier League winner at 96:46.

  Silva was delighted with how his team pushed until the final seconds to ensure they came away with a win.

  "It was definitely a deserved win. We started on the front foot and dominated all the game. In the first 20 minutes, we had two clear chances to score," Silva told BBC Sport.

  "After they scored, we didn't lose the confidence and the trust in ourselves, we kept pushing them back, and we created enough to not be losing at half-time.

  "I told the players this is football, it can happen, but we have to keep pushing, working hard and playing our way.

  "It was late, it should've been much before, but that's football."

   

  Brentford, meanwhile, have now dropped a league-high 14 points from winning positions in the Premier League as they suffered a fifth consecutive away defeat in the competition.

  In fact, they are the first side in the competition's history to score the first goal in four consecutive away games and lose all four.

  They had defended resolutely until their late lapse in concentration, and even had a chance to win it, only for Bernd Leno's impressive save to keep out Fabio Carvalho in the 95th minute.

  Thomas Frank, though, admitted he was not yet ready to take the positives from the performance after the disappointment of their late defeat.

  "It was tough. It is emotionally very tough right now," Frank told Sky Sports.

  "When you are leading in the 92nd minute, and you lose, it is tough. I don't think we hit our highest level. I think on the day Fulham were better.

  "There was a lot of good defending and effort, and I thought that would have given us the win. We could have won it with the chance for Fabio Carvalho and then we lost.

  "When we look at the game back, and we are more cool-headed, we will probably be very happy with the defensive standard. I thought there were unbelievable blocks, and recovery runs and all that we did well. On the ball, we didn't do enough."