The France captain, 26, joined Real on a free transfer last June after leaving Paris St-Germain.

But he struggled in the early months following his move, at one point scoring just three times in 11 appearances.

That run included penalty misses against Liverpool in the Champions League and Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, with Madrid losing both matches.

Mbappe says he felt at “rock bottom” after those misses but a shift in his mindset has led to four goals in his past three appearances.

“I believe it was a mentality issue and that was a point I realised that I had to work harder,” said Mbappe.

“I was thinking too much about how to do things. Whether to go into space, whether to go to Vini’s [Vinicius Jr’s] area of the pitch, to Rodrygo’s area. When you overthink, you don’t focus on your game.

“I was fine physically and with the group but I knew I had to do more, that was the time to change the situation.

“I couldn’t do any worse, so when you hit rock bottom you can only go up.”

Since the defeat by Bilbao on 4 December, Mbappe has scored eight goals in 10 appearances in all competitions.

Meanwhile, Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has dismissed speculation that he has decided to leave the club at the end of the season.

“I will never decide to leave Real Madrid,” said the Italian.

“This day will come, but it won’t be me the one who decides. It could be tomorrow or in five years. The plan is to be here with Florentino [Perez] for another four years and say goodbye.”

Real, who are 20th in the 36-team Champions League table, take on Red Bull Salzburg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The 25-year-old Real Madrid forward has 86 caps for France, helped them win the World Cup in 2018 and scored a hat-trick in the 2022 final defeat by Argentina.

He is also their captain, yet Mbappe was omitted from the France squad in October as a precaution after returning from injury – and then again the following month for no clear reason.

“The French team has always been the highest rank in football, it’s the national team. I’ve always said there’s nothing more important. My love for the French team hasn’t changed,” Mbappe told Canal+.

“You serve your country and that’s it.”

Mbappe has scored 48 goals for his country, but he managed only one competitive goal in 2024. He endured a difficult Euro 2024 as he played much of the tournament with a broken nose.

France head coach Didier Deschamps said the decision to omit Mbappe for November’s Nations League games was a “one-off”.

Mbappe said: “I can’t talk about November because it was a decision from the coach and I’ll get behind what he said.

“I fully respect his decision because he is the boss. I wanted to go but I can’t say why.”

Mbappe has yet to find his best form for Real Madrid following his free transfer summer move from Paris St-Germain.

However, he has still netted 11 goals in 21 games for the Spanish giants.

The lack of down time for top footballers will again be in the spotlight when Fifa stages an expanded 32-team Club World Cup in the United States next summer.Mbappe will be involved in that, and the regular World Cup follows in the summer of 2026.Leagues, national associations and player unions have voiced major misgivings about the busy calendar, and Mbappe suggested it is inevitable that players will become weary.”In the NBA [National Basketball Association], they get four months off,” said Mbappe.”We get two weeks. And in the second week, we’re already back to running. It’s not a vacation.”I was tired [at Euro 2024]. I wanted to stay because you give everything for the French team but it was exhausting.”