At first, Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe was supposed to be out for the rest of the season until the World Cup with a hamstring injury. But when reports from the Spanish and French media emerged that Mbappe may be saving himself for the World Cup and fans caught wind of the forward spending time in Italy on vacation, the pressure mounted on Mbappe to try and return from what was termed as more of an overload than injury.
Mbappe got right back on the pitch and got to work ahead of El Clasico this weekend against Barcelona, but at the very last second, just when he was cleared to return, Mbappe pulled up with discomfort. He has been ruled out and will not be traveling with the squad.
The timing of the reinjury led to skepticism from Real Madrid fans as to the veracity of Mbappe's latest ailment, given there was already skepticism about Mbappe's injury status the first time around. And now, another detail is here to serve as ammunition for those against Mbappe in the fan base - and it now appears to be the majority of Madrid fans are not on his side.
Kylian Mbappe continues to look bad
According to a report from MARCA, via Madrid Sports, the man wearing the No. 10 wasn't actually going to start for Real Madrid against Barcelona. Even though he had worked his way back on the pitch successfully, it appears manager Alvaro Arbeloa tactically had not planned on Mbappe being a starter. His main test lineup in practices before the Clasico actually involved Gonzalo Garcia starting alongside Vinicius Junior with Kylian Mbappe as a bench option.
Arbeloa has seemed less wlling to placate Mbappe behind the scenes. He apparently had an emergency meeting recently in which he told the players that they are not winning because not everyone on the team is helping out in defense, and he even made comments of that nature publicly at a recent press conference, criticizing the fact that not everyone on the team is defending. And that pointed remark seems to be a barb at Mbappe, who has run the least of any top player in European football this season based on data from the CIES, whereas Vinicius Jr. is among the leaders in presses initiated by forwards this season.
So with Arbeloa less willing to give Mbappe starts since he knows that Real Madrid are playing better without him, as they did in last weekend's 2-0 shutdown win over Espanyol, Real Madrid fans will wonder if Mbappe's latest injury is just an excuse to save face since he would not have been a starter - or him punishing Real by not even wanting to be a bench option. It's not a good look for the Frenchman.
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