Kylian Mbappé is at the center of another Real Madrid defeat as Los Blancos leave Bilbao with zero points.

Real Madrid entered the game against Athletic Bilbao with a streak of 21 unbeaten away games in La Liga. Carlo Ancelotti’s men had successfully reduced the gap to Barcelona at the top of the table and moved within one point of the Catalans at the weekend. The gap is now four points again after Real Madrid suffered a 2-1 defeat against Ernesto Valverde’s side.

15 minutes after Álex Berenguer gave the hosts the lead in the second half, Real Madrid were awarded a penalty that Mbappé missed. Jude Bellingham brought his side level in the 79th minute, scoring his fourth goal in as many La Liga games, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the result. Gorka Guruzeta capitalized on a defensive error by Fede Valverde to secure all three points for Athletic Bilbao.

Here are three takeaways from Real Madrid’s loss to Athletic Bilbao.

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Just a week after Mbappé missed a penalty against Liverpool, he failed again against Athletic Bilbao. The Frenchman sent a low shot without any real power to Julen Agirrezabala, which the goalkeeper parried away relatively easily. The penalty looked almost identical to the one Mbappé took at Anfield.

Bellingham took over the duties at the weekend and calmly scored from the penalty spot against Getafe. Ancelotti confirmed that the players on the pitch decide who takes the penalties, but the manager must intervene after Mbappé’s second miss in his last two attempts. Bellingham must be the team’s undisputed penalty taker until Vinícius Júnior returns.

Mbappé’s problems have been widely publicized, but the lack of confidence with which the 25-year-old plays is unacceptable for someone of his caliber and price. Coming away with zero points against Athletic Bilbao could have big implications for the title and the blame lies with Mbappé.

Athletic Bilbao was always able to compete in the races without much intervention from the royal team. All it took was a bad pass from Real Madrid or a clever pass from the hosts to trigger a counterattack that completely exposed the visitors.

Too often Fran García and Lucas Vázquez were caught in possession or pushed too far forward, leaving the Williams brothers plenty of space on either wing to exploit. If Athletic Bilbao had shown more quality in the final third, the hosts could easily have scored more than two goals.

Valverde and Bellingham were constantly looking for cover for their full-backs, minimizing the opportunities for the midfielders to link up with Rodrygo and Mbappé. Real Madrid are a different team when Bellingham plays as a free-roaming No. 10, but he spent so much time covering for his teammates’ defensive errors that he once again found it difficult to contribute to the attack for most of the game.

Valverde made the ultimate mistake after returning for the umpteenth time that evening, giving Athletic Bilbao a 2-1 win.

Tchouaméni made his first appearance for Real Madrid after a month out with an ankle injury, but his return left much to be desired. While he didn’t necessarily make glaring mistakes, he failed to make an impact on the game.

The midfielder is expected to give Real Madrid more defensive stability by acting as an insurance policy right in front of the defense, but Athletic Bilbao broke through Real Madrid’s ranks as if he wasn’t even there. In fact, it was Bellingham and Valverde who intervened in defense while Tchouaméni remained unhindered.

Ancelotti would have been better off agreeing with Luka Modrić or opting for a 4-3-3 with Brahim Díaz or Arda Güler at the top. There was a blatant lack of creativity in midfield, and Dani Ceballos and Tchouaméni in a rather useless double pivot did the visitors no favors.

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